Shining Soul
by kokatsu na tenshi
Summary: The charm spell remained unbroken until a chance encounter with a man who hates slavery rescued her.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.

CoLu

Don't know if I should continue this or leave as is right now. Regular updates will not be possible if I do.

Lucy scowled down at her new key, frustrated that the man had only given her a 1000 Jewel discount. "Is that really all my sex appeal is worth?" she snapped out loud before her gaze softened as she looked at the key. Smiling gently, she rubbed her thumb along the symbol for Canis Minor, "Don't worry, I don't regret spending the money on you. I just wish I had been able to save a bit more."

The key warmed slightly and she giggled, excited to meet her new friend a little later as she attached it to her key ring. The sudden squealing and calls of Salamander drew her attention and she perked up, suddenly excited, "Must be that fire mage that can use magic beyond what anyone can do from a magic shop!"

She rushed forward, excited, stopping when she caught sight of the man who had a lot of women fawning over him. Her heart began to beat faster, and she felt drawn in as something called to her. She ignored the part of her that whispered that something wasn't right.

 _Could it be,_ she thought, heart beating faster as she drifted towards him, _is he the one?_

Even the boy that shoved his way into the crowd of girls didn't shake the feeling, though she felt a strong pull towards him too. She frowned as he got beat up by the other girls in the crowd, twice. After watching Salamander go, the crowd dispersed, and she felt herself thinking a bit more clearly. She helped the pink haired boy out of the trash, frowning, "Wow they did a number on you. You ok?"

He glanced at her suspiciously and she gave him an embarrassed grin, "Here, I'll treat you to lunch."

He looked confused, but didn't protest as his stomach growled. Lucy giggled, still coming off her high from seeing the Salamander. As they ate Lucy found herself telling Natsu and Happy about her dreams to join a big guild, forgetting to mention which one she wanted to join. She caught herself before she began spilling her life story, though Natsu was just so easy to talk to. Eventually she walked away, turning down his offer of the autograph Salamnder had given him. Something just seemed off.

She froze as she walked into the park, eyes widening in a sort of realization. _It's as if he was using some sort of charm magic! That magic was banned! Come on Lucy, fi-_

"There you are."

Lucy smiled, even as she felt herself going under the spell one more time. _Fight it Lucy!_

Inwardly she was panicking, even as her body reacted and her mind got fuzzier. She soon found herself in a dress and boarding the ship. She cringed inwardly, even as he led her to his private rooms, wondering what kind of mage used a charm spell on people.

A memory rose up unbidden, a warning from her mother when she had mistakenly called a charm spell romantic when she was seven.

 _Layla frowned at her daughter, "Never say that Lucy."_

 _Lucy looked up at her, innocent eyes hurt, and Layla sighed. "Lucy, a charm spell takes away the victim's will. After she or he has fallen under it, she can never break it. They can fight it only a little bit. It may wear off without reapplication but they'll never break out on their own. There is only one thing that can break a charm spell."_

 _"What's that momma?"_

 _Layla gave her daughter gentle smile, "Finding their soul mate."_

 _"Soul mate?"_

 _Layla nodded, "The person who's soul resonates in tune with their own."_

 _Lucy frowned, not really understanding and Layla grew serious again, "Lucy, be careful out there. You can avoid falling under a charm's spell if you know about it, but once you've fallen under, keep fighting and hopefully they'll forget to reapply and you can run."_

Lucy sensed the sleep spell as he fed her some cheesy line about drinking the wine, and let herself fall asleep, hoping he would forget to reapply the charm spell, and not do anything to her in the meantime. She didn't even hear Natsu crash through the ceiling.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Page Break~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

When Cobra had found out about the black market slave trade he had been livid, as had the other three from his cell block. They knew, however, that Brain would never let them take out one of their own dark guilds. Hoteye could care less as long as it brought him money, and while Midnight was angry, he didn't want to anger his father. Cobra looked between Racer, Angel, and Cubellios.

The other two nodded to him, silently letting him know that they'd cover for him.

"I hear ya," he muttered, hopping on Cubellios, and leaving to hunt. He had been chosen to talk to the council because of his dragon slayer nature. He was often going to hunt for poisonous plants or animals. Sometimes he'd even get to torture some of the local idiots, though they were nowhere near a town this time. Maybe he'd let the council in on Brain's plan to try to find Nirvana. He was wishing Brain had left them in the tower.

Cubellios grew her wings, hovering off the ground and Cobra jumped up, hearing Angel and Racer wish him luck. He felt something odd as he heard Midnight's soul wish him luck as well. His chest warmed, glad that his brothers and sister from the tower were behind him on this.

He was to meet one of the council's lackeys as an informant in Clover Town. Luckily there was little going on in his guild while Brain searched for more information with stolen Archive magic. He snorted, remembering the man's pitiful cries as he poisoned him with Brain watching. He shook the memory from his mind, focusing on his personal mission. He just hoped the council would act on his tip. If what he had overheard the leader of Xolotl's Fang was true, they had captured a freaking Fairy as well. Why they hadn't killed the fucker and thrown him overboard yet he didn't know, but apparently the boy had jumped on board for what they thought was a rescue, and promptly gotten seasick. Cobra shuddered. That was one weakness he shared, not that anyone knew it. They couldn't ride the train anyways. They were too recognizable.

Cobra quickly found the location, the trip having only taken a few hours. He gently pet Cubellios, knowing she was tired. "We'll rest easy tonight," he murmured gently to her. He kept an eye out for anyone, sitting under the tree and closing his eyes. Cubellios slithered up into the branches, resting so as not to give her friend away.

Cobra caught the guy's soul long before he arrived, hearing it mumble nervously, repeating the pass code over and over. The man stopped, paling, as Cobra opened his eyes, studying him with a deadly look.

"C-c-c-obra of the Oracion Seis!" the man yelped.

"Well that's not the password," Cobra snarked, standing.

"W-w-wh-"

"Don't even, I know who you are," Cobra interrupted, "And you obviously know who I am. Your fucking informant so listen up. There are some things a few of the Seis won't stomach, at all."

The man gulped, whipping out a recording lacrima and quickly activating it. Cobra scowled at the thing, "One of our lesser guilds, Xolotl's Fang, has branched out into slavery recently."

He rubbed his wrists absently, and the Council man followed the movement, a sudden light of understanding going off in his head. Cobra glared at him, "Don't think this suddenly makes me a good guy, I'll still kill you if I feel like it."

The idiot still relaxed a little, "You said slavery."

Cobra snorted at his tactic, but still returned to the subject at hand. "One of their men, Bora, a fire mage, has kidnapped a bunch of women from Hargeon using a charm spell. Supposedly they caught a Fairy as well."

The man winced, and Cobra saw him run through the amount of destruction Fairy Tail would cause if they found out. Cobra smirked, wondering if he should've just contacted Fairy Tail. He then decided he might do that anyways and go see the carnage. If this man's thoughts were anything to go by, it would be beautiful.

"They're bound for Bosco. Should arrive in two days."

The man nodded, about to turn off the lacrima. "One other thing," Cobra said, shifting uncomfortably. He couldn't let the others know about this, but while he wouldn't mind the light guilds turning on one another, it was another thing entirely what Brain, and the demon sealed in his head wanted. He and the others were just pawns towards the ultimate goal. Cobra wondered what Brain would do after he destroyed everything, if he ever got the chance. Cobra wished he were strong enough to kill him.

The man looked up confused, and Cobra scowled, "Brain is looking for a weapon called Nirvana."

He could hear the man's immediate dismissal, and nearly ripped his throat out. The man turned off the recording lacrima, "Thank you, mister Cobra."

Cobra snorted at the formal dismissal, Cubellios dropping from the tree and coiling around him, terrifying the councilman.

He then began to wander into town, ignoring the whispers as he made his way to the inn. Most of them were whispers of fear, which were music to his ears. Once inside, only one person didn't recoil from him and Cubellios, and that was because she seemed absolutely fascinated by Cubellios.

"Yes, she's magical, and my friend. She's also venomous. Where's your communications lacrima?"

The girl blinked, glancing at him and then pulling the lacrima out. It was a cheap version, probably the best most hotels could afford. Personal communications lacrimas were unheard of except by the rich, but guilds would have them. He nodded his thanks, going to a secluded corner, hearing the accusations of the people watching him. He was tempted to steal it just because.

A white haired girl smiled out from the lacrima, and Cobra sneered.

"You've reached Fairy Tail! This is MiraJane, can I help you?"

Cobra sneered, "Your guild master in?"

"What is this in regards to?"

He snorted, "You'll find out after I tell him."

Her smile grew dark, and Cobra was suddenly glad he couldn't hear what was going on in her head over the lacrima. Damn thing was useful.

"I got it Mira," an older voice said, "I am Makarov, Fairy Tail's master."

Cobra sneered, "Xolotl's Fang has one of your mages caught on a slave ship. They're headed for Bosco, should arrive in two days."

The old man palmed his face, "Must be Natsu. Damn that boy and his motion sickness. Thank you for telling me…"

Cobra sneered, shutting off the lacrima. He stared at it for a second before turning and returning it to the desk. His job was done. He walked out, heading out of town and back into the woods. He would sleep there tonight and he and Cubellios would head out in the morning. To where, he wasn't sure yet.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Page Break~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Makarov sighed, grumbling about the youth of today before he hailed Gray, Elfman, Cana, and Loke. He wished Erza had returned to help with this. It didn't help that he didn't know how many mages they'd be going up against. He'd also have to inform the council. Natsu was just born for causing trouble for him, and he wouldn't have it any other way.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Page Break~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

When Lucy awoke, she was in a hard cot, naked, with her knees propped up as someone prodded her nether regions. Salamander was suddenly there, smiling charmingly, "Ah you're awake. Don't worry my dear, this is routine for anyone on my ship."

She felt herself smiling nervously up at him, even as she retched in disgust as he brought the sleeping potion to her lips again.

"Now drink deep, that's my good girl."

The last thing she heard before she fell asleep was, "Well, she's definitely a virgin and her breasts are very real. No penetration and she'll go for millions."

The Salamander cursed, even as he placed a hand on her breast, pinching the nipple.

When Lucy awoke again, she was chained to a bed in the first luxurious cabin. Her keys were sitting on the night stand next to her, and she was dressed in a sheer robe. She still felt the charm spell forcing her to think about Salamander, even as her subconscious fought.

The blue haired man entered the room, bringing in food that smelled delicious. Giving her an oily smile that made her heart beat faster.

 _Fight it Lucy, that's just the charm spell. What the hell has he done to me?!_

He set the tray down, and she smiled up at him shyly, inner Lucy retching in disgust as the charm spell made her act the way he wanted her too.

She was fighting it, and he seemed to know she was fighting it, since he was tending to her personally.

"Is the cuff really necessary?" she asked, voice light, "I'm really not into-"

"Now my dear," he said smoothly interrupting, "If I let you go, some of the other men might think they can… take advantage. It's for your protection."

Her heart dropped, even as she agreed, letting him feed her the soup. A little dripped off the spoon and into her cleavage, causing her to yelp slightly as the soup was still hot.

"I'm so sorry!" he said, quickly undoing the sheer robe. She thought he would use the napkin to clean her up, but instead brought his head down, licking up the trail the hot soup had left.

Lucy gasped as her body reacted, her nipples immediately hardening, and she could feel his grin as the charm spell shoved her further back, leaving her body acting like a wanton lover. He nipped at her skin as he reached the peak of one of her breasts, slowly pushing her back towards the bed. He nipped at it before beginning to suck.

His fingers ran down her stomach and down her abdomen until they reached her nether lips. She could feel herself getting wet, her body reacting to his touch as he spread her lips, her legs opening so that she could feel more, even as her skin crawled. He rubbed two of his fingers along her slit, ensuring that he was hitting the small bundle of nerves just above it, causing her body to react more.

He switched to the other breast, causing her to gasp and moan as he gently bit the nipple, the tips of one of his fingers finding its way to just barely inside her entrance, beginning to push forward.

 _No. No no no no no! Please, someone! Not like this!_

Lucy's prayer was answered when there was a sharp knocking at the door. Her charmed body moaned in frustration in tandem with him as the person at the door yelled in.

"Hey Bora, you in there?! That pink haired idiot set fire to his cell!"

"Don't call me that!" Bora snapped, "Call me Salamander of Fairy Tail remember?! Why haven't you killed him and thrown him over board yet?!"

 _Must be Natsu,_ Lucy thought as she relaxed against the mattress as Bora left. She struggled against the chains as the charm spell faded slightly, glancing at her keys. The man was probably going to try and get her to break her contracts so that he could sell them for extra Jewel. She couldn't let that happen. She sighed, resigning herself to a day of boredom and captivity. Just another day, and she'd be who knows where. Her body was still longing for Bora's touch, the charm spell still working even though she fought it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Page Break~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Cobra slid into place in the rafters, watching as Fairy Tail worked with the council to ambush the slavers. This was rare. The council rarely wanted to work with the guilds, even if they were legal, and if the informee's thoughts were correct, they really wanted to disband Fairy Tail.

He shrugged, not bothered, keeping himself hidden. Today was the day they would catch the slavers. He glanced over to where the rest of Xolotl's Fang was gathering. He was glad that the rest of the small dark guild was there. That meant they'd get all of them at once. Hopefully Brain didn't connect his disappearance with the capture of the dark guild. It wouldn't do for Brain to think he was defecting.

Cobra's ears began to pick out the cacophony of sound of muted souls as a ship pulled into the port.

 _Must be a charm spell,_ Cobra thought, scowling. This guy was some kind of sick.

The crew cheered down as they began to lead the women off, most of them still charmed with hearts in their eyes. Some of them had figured it out and hadn't had the charm spell replaced. He could see the dejection and hear the despair in their souls. They were dressed in different outfits. White for still virgins, red for those who weren't. They had color coded the hem at the bottom. Black for non-wizard. Gold for wizard. There were only a few white blouses, and only two that had come off so far had gold on the hem, and they were obviously still charmed. The hem of their sleeves were also color coded. Gray for anything over 40. There were none of those. Blue for 30-39, of which there were a select few, each looking younger than they were. Most were green, which was 20-29. Then the man with the charm spell walked off, leading a heavily charmed girl off the ship, and Cobra's breath was taken away. Her blouse was white, and did little to hide her figure. Her breasts strained the material, the hem at the bottom was gold, and her sleeves had the pink of a girl that was between the age of 15-19. Cobra stared, thinking she had to be maybe a year or two younger than him. His soul sang out, and her head lifted, blank brown eyes meeting his.

Suddenly her eyes cleared, and her soul sang out to his. His own responded, and he nearly dropped out of his hiding place. Something echoed up to him from her soul, an older woman's voice, _Only a soulmate can break a charm spell once you are under it._

 _Soul mate?_ He questioned, gaze hungrily taking in the blond angel's appearance. _Something that's only mine._ Golden blonde hair and honey brown eyes that looked innocent and fearful, and full pink lips that he wanted to taste if only once. His eyes narrowed in on the magic cancelling cuffs that bound her wrists together and he snarled, idly rubbing his own wrists as a phantom pain suddenly hit him. It was then he heard her soul going a mile a minute. She glanced towards the blue haired man's pouch, and then back as the men brought up what appeared to be a pink haired bruise.

She gasped, and the blue haired man raised an eyebrow, "My dear, he's just a prisoner. Don't worry, he won't hurt you."

Lucy's jaw clenched, and she suddenly elbowed him in the gut, whirling faster than he could catch his breath and grabbing the pouch that held her keys. She then rushed back up gangway, barreling into the man that held Natsu, causing the pinkette to stumble, and fall off. She stumbled herself, another man catching her hair and pulling her up by it, the men on the ground jeering.

Fairy Tail and the council took this opportunity to attack.

Cobra grinned. This was carnage. Ice and concentrated bursts of light were flying everywhere. He nearly lost sight of his little blond soul mate in the process. He began jumping across rafters, soul singing at him to save her.

He leapt onto Cubellios, the snake having caught on and taking the stealthiest route to the blonde. He was quick to rip the throat out of the guy that was taking advantage of the confusion to try and rape her. He spit on the dead body, gathering up the blonde who was still freaking out.

"Calm down jugs," he snapped, pulling her away from the fighting.

Her soul stilled before rage settled in and her eyes narrowed at him, "What did you call me elf boy?"

He grinned at her, not bothered by the nickname and was pleased when she resolved to find something that he didn't like. He would have fun while she tried.

"This is how you greet your soul mate?" he asked, setting her down behind a set of crates and beginning to use his poison to destroy the manacles. It would take a while because they were magic resistant, but he was nothing if not tenacious.

"When he's a complete ass," she hissed, shifting uncomfortably. She then blushed as she studied him closely. He tried not to smirk in pleasure as he heard every dirty thought before she quickly discarded it. Suddenly the cuffs came off and she began to rub her wrists. He stopped her, inspecting them to see if there was any damage. He didn't want her creamy skin scarred, not like his.

She waited patiently until he was done inspecting her wrists. She didn't know what to think. She didn't know who he was, except that he had broken the charm spell. Their eyes had met and suddenly she could think for herself, and feel her body, and the first thing she was doing as soon as she got her stuff back and had some money was taking a hot shower and scrubbing all the places that sleazy man had touched.

Cobra stiffened, a growl rolling through his chest, "Where did he touch you?"

As soon as he asked the question he was assaulted with visions of the man feeling her breasts, kissing them, his mouth moving down to her most secret place, and Cobra growled louder, ready to kill the man. If the blouses weren't charmed to show the slavers the truth about the girls' virginal status and age, he would've thought he had forcefully taken that from her.

"He always got interrupted by Natsu trying to burn his way out of his cell," Lucy whispered, imagining the pink haired idiot as she last saw him. He made a mental note to thank the fucker before beating him to a pulp for shiggles.

"Thank you," she whispered as she felt her magic running through her again. She pulled her celestial keys out of Bora's pouch, looking at them lovingly before glancing back up to him and blushing. Suddenly she grasped his face, pulling him forward and kissing him. Cobra, startled, didn't hesitate to respond once he could think again.

"Thank you, Peter Pan," she whispered when they broke, both gasping.

"Always, Tinkerbell."

She smiled tremulously, "I'll hold you to it."

He nodded and suddenly she was on her feet, a key in her hand.

"Open, gate of the Golden Bull! Taurus!"

A giant cow suddenly showed, axe in hand, looking at Lucy with hearts in his eyes. Cobra snarled at it as it made a perverted comment to the girl and she was quick to send it into the sea of bodies, somehow knowing who it was supposed to attack.

She glanced back, biting her lip as she studied him, "I'm Lucy."

Cobra stood, Cubellios wrapping around his waist, reminding him that he was from a different world, a darker one. His soul mate was the one thing he couldn't have. "Erik," he whispered, memorizing her smile.

She stepped forward, kissing him one more time before returning her attention to the battle, jumping in when one of the Xolotl mages went to attack her spirit.

"I'll have to keep Angel far away from her," he whispered to Cubellios. Cubellios seemed hesitant to leave, and he winced, glancing at the blonde one last time before making his way away from the carnage. He couldn't be seen here, he had to get back.

He didn't notice the little old man watching him carefully before returning to the battle.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Page Break~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Lucy felt like crying, both from joy and heart break. She had been invited to join Fairy Tail. Master Makarov had apparently been impressed with her work with her celestial spirit. Natsu turned out to be the real Salamander, and had joined the battle as soon as his cuffs were off, bruises or not. He had nearly burnt Bora to a crisp. The heart break was from finding out that Erik wasn't a part of the guild she had been longing to join, and that he had just disappeared.

One of the men from the council coughed, "You mean Cobra was here, and he left?"

Lucy's eyes narrowed, and Master Makarov sighed, "He was here, and yes, he left."

The council man cursed, "Would've been nice to capture one of the Oracion Seis as well as these idiots."

Lucy glanced questioningly at Master Makarov, and he motioned for her to sit back. She did so, trusting his judgement. She didn't have a guild stamp yet, and she didn't want to jeopardize getting one, Erik around or no.

The council man left them alone, Makarov checking to make sure none of the rest of the guild was around before he turned to face Lucy.

"Cobra, or Erik as you know him, was our informant on this matter. I assume he was just here to watch the carnage."

"But when he saw me," she whispered.

Makarov nodded, "Cobra is a member of the Oracion Seis, one of the leaders of the Balam Alliance, which is a set of guilds that aren't legal. I can only assume he bothered because he doesn't like slavery in any form. As far as I know, he was acting alone."

Lucy looked down, upset. Makarov hopped to the ground, looking up at her with a smile, "He could still be a good man. We'll just have to see if he comes back to us."

Lucy glanced down at the old man curiously before smiling, and joining the rest of her new guild on deck.

I uh… So it's a different beginning. Reviews, preferably constructive ones would be helpful as I don't have a beta and am hesitant to start emailing people to beta. Kind of a weird personal quirk. I kind of thought to have him keep her until the seis arc in the story but I kind of like this.

Still trying to decide if and how I want to continue it. The research will continue…..


	2. Chapter 2

So yeah, summer school. MW from 1145-9pm and TTh from 430-8pm you want to talk about torture...

Here's the next chapter.

* * *

Cobra scowled as he was woken from a dream of his golden haired angel. The last he had seen her, he had watched her ridiculous play from the dark of the theater. He had nearly lost his shit when she lost her clothing, glad that the psychotic red head had saved Lucy's dignity, even though she was the one that had sliced up the clothing. The blonde's silent byplay was hilarious however, and he wished the rest of the people in the audience could hear her. He took care of Bora after the play. It was glorious, hearing the blue haired son of a bitch scream. He had been tempted to rip the man's dick off, and shove it up his ass, and then decided he didn't want to touch it. Lucy was his to protect, his to take revenge for. He'd let Natsu and her god forsaken team do what they could because they made her soul sing with happiness, but she was his to protect, so long as he could protect himself from Brain.

He couldn't be with her, if Brain killed him.

He had sworn to himself that he would be with her eventually. He started to shorten his sentence, ratting out several of the guilds under the Seis, and a great many more under Grimoire Heart. He wasn't going to touch the ones under Tartaros. He had no desire to attract the ire of the demons.

"It's time," Racer said, making sure Cobra was paying attention.

 _I know what you've been doing,_ Racer thought.

Cobra didn't spare him a glance, and Racer grinned, a bit of Sawyer showing through. _I can't say if you're doing the right thing, and I don't know why you're doing it, but be careful. You're still our brother._

Suddenly Cobra was shoved into one of the rooms, Angel and Midnight already inside.

He snarled, and Angel gave him a haughty look. Even Midnight was awake for this.

Midnight took a deep breath, and Cobra felt Macbeth come out, looking at him in concern. He envied them the ability to hide their true selves. He wondered if he had another part of himself that he had just forgotten about sometimes. Only she seemed to bring Erik out anymore, and he couldn't have her until he had redeemed himself.

"Brain won't be happy, we've been covering for you, but…"

The other three exchanged looks, and Macbeth continued, "We need to know what's going on. We're your family."

Cobra growled, getting defensive. Each stared at him, letting their original personalities come out for him to hear. His snarls grew less, and slowly, he reminded himself that they weren't the enemy. He pulled out a picture he had taken of her at the play. He had somehow managed to capture just her, without the other nonsense that had been going on. Each studied the picture and Cobra shifted uncomfortably. "Her name is Lucy," he rumbled, "Her soul, calls to mine, and mine to hers. I need to be a better person, so I can be with her."

Macbeth snorted, "You aren't going to do that snarling at everyone. Including her guild."

Cobra shifted uncomfortably again, taking the picture back from Sorano, whose face had softened. "What are we going to do? Fairy Tail is part of the task force to stop us."

Cobra blinked not having heard that yet. He hoped that she wasn't part of the force that was sent. A low growl rolled out, and Sorano stepped back. They all knew that Cobra had a hard time keeping the innocent part of him and the part Brain created separated. After all, Cobra had been born in the tower.

"You know Brain just thinks of us as disposable pawns right?" Cobra rumbled, "He won't stop for anything except complete destruction. It's what the demon we've sealed away wants, and it's what he wants."

Macbeth drew in a deep breath, clenching his fist. "If you heard it, it must be true."

Suddenly Erik felt bad for his friend, knowing that he had hurt the boy that had been looking up to Brain. Angel resurfaced, scowling, "What about the plan? You're just going to abandon that? You can have her if we follow through. She could become as dark as you."

Cobra shook his head, shaking his head as he backed up, "No! I refuse to change her. She's- She's-"

Sawyer put a hand on his shoulder, calming him. Cobra looked down, defeated, "I don't want to change anything."

"So we kill Brain."

All of them looked at Angel, who was palming her keys, trying to determine which one would be able to do the job.

Sawyer looked at them each individually, wondering if any of them had the power to actually kill the man that made them into the Seis. Cobra maybe, had the power, if he could get past his fear of the man. That fear, however, was very real.

"We'll play it by ear," Midnight said, looking at his brother in all but blood, remembering the boy that did everything he could to keep them safe in the tower, calling them his new family.

Angel snorted, "You sure you're going to be able to keep awake for that?"

Midnight yawned, "Just wait to see what I can do."

Racer snickered, and then sobered up, "We have to worry about Hot Eye as well."

Midnight yawned again, "I'll take care of him if you can take care of Brain. We'll do this, for you."

"For you," Angel and Racer repeated.

Cobra's chest felt warm, and he resolved to protect his family, no matter what.

* * *

Lucy bit her lip as Makarov watched her carefully.

"Can you do this, child?"

"I-"

"I'm hoping you can get him to defect. I can possibly get him to spend parole in Fairy Tail if that's the case."

Lucy clenched her fist, "I'll try."

Makarov smiled at her, "You'll be fine."

Lucy nodded, giving him a brilliant smile, "I'm a Fairy Tail mage after all."

Natsu was waiting for her outside with Happy on his shoulder. "You good Luce?"

She gave him a nod and a small smile. He returned it with a toothy one of his own. "Don't worry Luce. You'll get him to join us and he'll join our team and we'll have even more fun adventures."

Lucy blinked before giggling, not questioning how Natsu knew about Erik. She had a feeling he had been reading her letters to her mother. "You need to stop reading my personal correspondence."

"Corre- what?"

Lucy sighed, wondering how this strange teenager became her best friend one more time.

"Come on Lushy!" Happy purred out, "Let's go!"

Lucy blinked, and looked down at her outfit before shrugging. She joined the rest of the chosen team and they headed out of the guild towards the designated location.

* * *

Cobra nodded to Angel as he pointed her out, both of them hidden in the trees. Lucy was giggling at something Natsu had said as they made their way to the Blue Pegasus house. Angel studied her with critical eyes, gaze lingering on the girls keys and whip before sighing in defeat.

She fingered her own. "Once I get arrested, the contracts with my spirits will break. Make sure she gets them."

Cobra's inner dragon purred, glad his sister was thinking of his mate. She glanced at him, amused, before pulling out Gemini's key, gazing fondly at it. She had always liked the twins best. "Time to get to work."

Cobra nodded, settling into position, Cubellios further up the tree. Angel darted away, heading towards the house. He watched as the other guilds arrived, scowling when he counted in his head again. There was still one guild missing. Then he saw her. She smelled of the breeze after a rain storm and her soul and thoughts were all scrambled nerves. He blinked disbelievingly as he wondered why Cait Shelter would send a child barely into her teenage years. It was rather cruel.

He began whistled for Cubellios, jumping on top of her as they made their way towards where Brain and the rest were waiting.

Brain raised an eyebrow, already expecting a report.

"Four from Fairy Tail, fire dragon slayer, the ice make, Titania, and a Celestial Mage," he said dully, acting bored out of his mind, "Four from Blue Pegasus, the main guy being that little perv with his three disciples."

Brain nodded, obviously knowing who they were, and dismissing them just as easily.

"Three from Lamia Scale. Another ice make, a doll manipulator and Jura."

Brain scowled, the first reaction he had gotten since he had arrived. He heard the echoes of Wizard Saint in Brain's thoughts and sighed, knowing that Angel would 'take out' him first.

Well, either her or Titania. But Lucy was friends with Titania.

"The Nirvits sent a little girl with blue hair."

Brain perked up at that, and Cobra tried hard to keep his face neutral. Brain obviously knew her. Angel walked up a few minutes later, an image of Lucy squealing over Wendy fresh in her mind.

 _You sure you want to be a good guy?_

Cobra glanced at her and shrugged and she sighed.

 _For you._

"So the kid from Cait Shelter, her name is Wendy. Pervy wasn't sure what kind of magic she used. They're planning on using their magic bomber to destroy our base."

Brain grinned, a slightly terrifying look for the tall man. "I'll kidnap the girl," he said, turning to Racer, "Racer, go get the coffin and bring it to our hiding place. I'll bring her straight there. Angel, use Caelum to destroy the bomber."

Brain then turned to the rest, "The rest of you, if you encounter them, make sure they don't make it into the forest. Spread the word amongst the last of our guilds."

Angel just smirked as Racer ran off with a glance at Cobra. Brain was too deep in his plans for Nirvana to notice. Cobra walked forward to stand next to Midnight, gently tapping the other man's head. Cobra grinned when Midnight didn't even flinch, though he had come to full consciousness.

 _I heard._

It wasn't long before there was a humming overhead, and they looked up to see the weirdest looking airship any of them had seen. Personally Cobra thought it was a blessing to destroy the monstrosity. Angel was quick to take out two key points, causing a lot of smoke, and the bomber to begin to fall. It was Hoteye who did a little extra damage, destroying a wing when the bomber hit the ground.

Cobra held back a wince, and turned as he heard the distant footsteps and shouts. "They're coming."

Midnight gave a soft snort that only Cobra heard, and Brain turned, ready to greet their 'guests.'

The group showed up, and Cobra could see Brain actively searching for Wendy, who was hiding behind a rock. The most powerful member was missing, as was the perv. Cobra glanced at Angel's triumphant look, and she silently, and slowly began to form a plan in her mind as the group before them slowly counted the five of them. Brain had already started to mock them.

Lucy had already identified Midnight as someone to be terrified of, and Cobra almost wished he could tell her that Midnight was on his side, and therefore, hers.

She glanced at him and Cubellios nervously, and felt her soul call out. His answered, and he had to keep his face from softening. Cubellios blocked his sight, asking for attention. He scratched the underside of the snake's jaw, grateful. Brain couldn't know the game was up now.

Angel planned too slow. Brain suddenly spotted Wendy and grinned triumphantly. He shot his magic out even as Natsu had enough and began his attack. Cobra nodded to Angel, and moved to intercept the fire dragon slayer. This caused the rest of them except Lucy to attack, who was following Brain's magic to a horrified Wendy.

Wendy shrieked as she was grabbed, the small blue cat grabbing onto her even as Brain dragged her away.

"Trust me," Cobra growled into the fire dragon slayer's ear, pushing him back towards the group and towards Lucy. Suddenly the whole group was hit by a large spell, and Cobra sighed in satisfaction as the Wizard Saint saved them. He listened for a moment, and had to keep from grinning when neither Brain nor Hoteye realized he hadn't run with them.

Cobra had to make sure she was ok.

Jura scowled at him, putting his hands together as if getting ready to attack and Cobra shook his head, putting a finger to his lips.

The man frowned, confused, thoughts making it difficult to hear where the rest of the Seis had gone. Once Cobra was sure they were far enough away, he turned back to see Jura holding back the little perv, who looked like he was going to attack.

Suddenly there was a loud crack and fire bust through the protective wall of earth and stone.

"Good going Natsu," called out a sweetly sarcastic voice as it coughed away dirt and smoke.

"What? It got us out!"

Cobra snorted as the pink hair of the fire dragon slayer appeared, followed by the golden blond of the other half of his soul. He was tempted to run up to her, but felt that it would be seen by the two older men as an attack.

Natsu finished helping her out and caught sight of him, large grin spreading on his face and Cobra had to face palm at the thoughts running through the pinkette's head.

"Shut up," he told the other dragon slayer, even as he held everyone else back from attacking the solo member of the Oracion Seis.

Lucy smiled nervously at him, glad he was there, and that warmed him.

"What is going on?"

Cobra glanced at the Wizard Saint, still wary. He was beginning to feel nervous, and Cubellios was reacting to it, hissing at the larger man.

Lucy, taking a chance, stepped forward, reaching out towards the venomous snake. Cobra attempted to relax as Cubellios watched the blonde, who was trying to figure out the source of some magic that was familiar to her.

Cubellios nudged the girl's hand, and Lucy relaxed smiling, and glancing at him. Cobra felt his face soften, even if he didn't relax his guard a bit.

"Lucy," Titania said sharply, getting ready to attack should Cobra grab her.

Cobra snorted, scowling as he looked at the rest of the group, Natsu obviously trying to hold her back.

"He's on our side," the pinkette snapped, obviously afraid of an enraged red head but standing up for him anyways.

Cobra snorted, "Not really."

Natsu gave him a deadpan stare, "Fine, you're on Lucy's side."

Cobra nodded, and Lucy snickered at the confused looks even as she looked at him, eyes shining brightly.

Cobra turned an ear back to the forest, "Brain's given the girl fifteen minutes to decide whether or not to resurrect Jellal. There's about 10 of those left."

Titania gasped, and Natsu's own soul grew darker and more focused. The rest of the group also stiffened and Cobra sighed.

"The last three of our dark guilds are in the forest looking for Nirvana, as I should be. Your friend is in that direction," he said, pointing. He listened again and then scowled, "Stupid girl."

"Wendy's healed him, hasn't she?" Lucy asked softly.

Cobra nodded, and then blinked, turning fully in the direction of their base, before snickering, "Brain lost control of Jellal. I have to go."

 _Be careful._

"Midnight, Angel and Racer are on my side," he suddenly growled out, "But they won't risk Brain finding out and killing them. Be careful, because they won't hesitate to kill you."

With that he left, hearing Lucy's mind working fast.

* * *

Lucy glanced back at her companions, "We should split up. We're going to get attacked either way, so we'd best put teams together."

Natsu nodded at her and glanced at Gray, who scowled. Erza clenched her fists.

Lucy noticed this, "Erza, you go after Jellal. Natsu, Gray, cut straight through to get Wendy."

They all nodded, and took off and Lucy looked at the rest of them. Jura was obviously still worn out, but in good fighting condition. "Sheria, you and Lyon take the western route. Eve, Ren, and Ichiya take the eastern. Jura, you need to rest a bit."

"I will follow Sheria and Lyon, I am fine."

She studied him, frowning, but nodded. She then looked at Hibiki, "Hibiki, does your archive magic have anything that will help us to destroy Nirvana?"

"I'm looking," he said shortly, and Lucy nodded, watching the rest as they took off.

He glanced at her, "Why aren't you going with them?"

"Can you walk and search at the same time?"

He shook his head, turning back to his work. She fingered her keys, acting as guard while he searched, ignoring the glances she kept getting. Natsu understood, and she didn't want to waste time explaining everything to everyone else. It wasn't just her secret to keep.

She tightened her hand into a fist, wondering how the others were getting on, and what exactly was up with Jellal. She kept scanning the forest line, heart pounding. She hoped she had made the right decision letting Erza go after Jellal and Erik. Hibiki made a frustrated noise, and Lucy turned to look at him. He gave her a wry smile, "Hit a block. I'll keep looking."

Lucy nodded to him, turning to look back at the forest. She wondered how long had passed since they went their separate ways. She hoped she had made the right decisions. She was even more surprised that no one had argued with her, as the least experienced of the group.

She bit her lip, keeping her eyes on the woods. She thought she saw a flash of light in the general direction of where Erik had said the camp was and clenched her jaw. _Ice,_ she decided, _Hopefully they'll be back soon._

She was unprepared when ten minutes later, Natsu crashed through the underbrush with Happy, Charle, and Wendy in his arms. Lucy smiled at them, eyes searching for Gray.

"Gray's fighting Richter," Natsu informed her and Lucy sighed.

"You mean Racer," she corrected, taking the Exceeds from him so he could lay Wendy down without dropping her. They weren't hard to rouse, but it did take a few precious minutes, and not long after, a bright pillar of light could be seen, interlaced with waves of darkness.

"That can't be good," Lucy whispered.

"It's not," Hibiki said, coming to stand next to them, "Nirvana's been unsealed."

Wendy gulped, taking short, harsh breaths, "This is my fault. I thought, he… This is my fault!"

Hibiki was quick to attack, much to the dismay of the rest of the group. Natsu snarled, ready to attack when Hibiki put his hands up, "While she's unconscious there's no chance for her to become dark. While she was panicking about Nirvana she was prone to becoming a dark wizard."

Lucy scowled, "There wasn't another way?"

Hibiki shook his head and Charle picked Wendy up, "We need to move. We can't let that thing finish getting unsealed."

They all nodded, heading into the woods towards the pillar.

* * *

Cobra scowled, first wondering why he couldn't find the blue haired bastard, and then upon finding him, wondering why he couldn't hear him. He kept himself hidden, especially after Lucy's friend, Erza found the blueberry headed amnesiac, her thoughts a cacophony of thoughts that revolved around Jellal, protecting Lucy from himself, and oddly enough strawberry cake, though that was on the backburner.

He shook his head, watching as a thought finally popped into Jellal's empty head, and even that only a name. _Wonder if that makes them a soul mate couple,_ he wondered idly, even as he scowled at the two. He listened out to the woods for a moment before grumbling. He slid out of his hiding spot, moving forward towards the two, knowing Brain would be too far on his guard for him to kill him just yet. He hoped Lucy was staying behind, and not getting involved in any of this. He didn't even have time to come up with a plan with these two, not that he thought the red headed girl scout would condone killing Brain.

But Brain had to die, and he had to die before the seal was released on the monster trapped within him.

Once Brain was close enough to listen in, Cobra opened his mouth, snarky diatribe already on his lips.

* * *

Lucy gulped, glancing back at Natsu as she faced down Angel. He looked miserable, despite the raft not really moving. She glanced over at Hibiki, who appeared to be processing what a smirking Angel had just revealed. She looked back at the white haired girl, who's smirk had turned into a thoughtful frown. Lucy gulped, feeling like she was being judged.

"Let Ares go."

Angel raised an eyebrow, "You're all out of magic and keys, and you dare to make that demand of me?"

Lucy clenched her fist, eyes tearing, knowing she was out of options, "It isn't right. Let Ares go!"

Angel scowled, motioning to Gemini to knock the girl out. Gemini Lucy smirked, raising Caelum, only to pause when a memory of Lucy's hit her, and she froze, crying. "I-"

Angel frowned, wondering what was taking so long. "Gemini?"

"I can't. She loves us. I can't!"

A startled look passed over Angel's face as Gemini simply disappeared, closing her own gate. She was half tempted to try to force the gate open again when Caelum landed in front of her. "Caelum, fire!"

Lucy flinched, waiting for death, only to realize there was no pain.

Angel stared down at the celestial spirit, "You too huh?"

Lucy gave a small smile in thanks to the spirit even as it disappeared. Looked like Angel was out of spirits too. Maybe she could reason with Erik's friend. She tried to stand again, only to pause at Angel's horrified look, and the sudden grasp of hands at her neck.

 _No, Hibiki!_

The hands then loosened, and she had the oddest feeling of learning, even though she was not studying anything, and it was taking over everything.

"I think you might just be able to use it," Hibiki whispered, and Lucy felt her magic go nearly out of control as she whispered the incantation he had just put in her head. Part of her rebelled, not wanting to hurt Angel at all, but the spell kept going. As soon as she said the final line, she collapsed into the water, almost unable to keep herself standing. She glanced at Angel, who was still lying in the water, and moved forward to make sure she was breathing. She pulled her up to the shore, whispering that she was sorry it had come to that.

"Me too," was the response she got, as Angel opened one eye, "Take them."

Lucy opened her mouth to protest, and Angel wheezed out a laugh, "Once I'm arrested, my contracts will break. Take them."

Lucy nodded, grabbing the keys, and moving to check on Natsu as Angel relaxed, smiling.

* * *

Thanks for all the good feedback and reviews. And thanks to infinitely panda for beta-ing this for me. I'll get the next chapter up after I get most of my homework done.


	3. Chapter 3

So sorry this took awhile since its been ready. 4 isn't ready. Been swamped with homework and its still piling up. Feel like my brain's going to explode. Probably my husband's going to come home one day from work and see me drooling in front of my computer with a bunch of equations on the screen for a program I still have trouble using lol.

Anyways.

Chapter 3.

Yeah. Constructive Feedback is useful. I love hearing that people like the story.

* * *

Natsu glanced back at Happy over his shoulder before returning to face Cobra, ears straining for any sound of his guild mates. Cobra looked uncomfortable, and Natsu hoped they were all okay.

Both of them glanced down at the ground, wincing.

"You too huh?"

Cobra scowled at him from his place on top of the snake, and Natsu grinned at him. _Wonder where that old man is, and if he's watching._

"He isn't."

Natsu blinked, giving Cobra a blank look and Cobra returned it with a deadpan stare, "I can hear you."

"Not fair," Happy whined, "I have a good idea but-"

"You want to go left and feint right."

Happy made a disgruntled noise and Natsu grinned again, thinking of a joke he heard the other day. "Listen to this!"

He was rewarded with Cobra's laughter.

"That was good."

Natsu grinned eyes dancing, running over what he overheard gramps telling Lucy. Cobra's face softened, and then darkened, "In order for that to happen, Brain needs to die."

"What's he talking about Natsu?"

Suddenly they shifted as Cobra attacked, explaining when they got close to exchange blows. Natsu looked upset when they parted, "We don't kill unless we have to."

Cobra just gave them an evil grin, and Natsu knew that Brain's attention had turned to them. He also knew better than to waste words, because there was little time to think of another plan. He roared, pushing Happy forward with a bit of magic as he blanked out, startling Cobra and landing a hit. A slight flash of respect flashed through Cobra's eyes, and the two of them set to make the fight more interesting to the leader of the Seis.

 _Why didn't you kill him earlier before he started this piece of crap moving?_

Cobra scowled, wondering the same thing himself, even as he attacked and dodged. Cubellios shot poison out as his request, allowing him to feast as he heard Brain coming his way. He knew that a surprise attack might have worked, but once they had gotten to the control platform for Nirvana, there had been a lot of runes and wards to prevent attacks for the person starting the weapon up. Drawing him out allowed him backup.

Cobra glanced to an alley, seeing Midnight, who had brought Jura and Hoteye with him. Midnight nodded up to him, and Cobra looked to see Brain headed his way. He grabbed Natsu, who tried to shake him off his back, roaring, and Cobra brought them both to the ground. Unfortunately, the roar took out the blue cat also. Cobra winced, knowing his own hearing would be out for little bit as well. He left Natsu on the ground as Midnight started to work his magic, keeping Brain from seeing that he had slipped off. Listening for a moment as Brain 'killed' him, he roused the little blue cat.

"Quiet pipsqueak. Brain's going to try to, uh, turn your friend into one of us. When I attack you get pinkie out of there."

"His name's Natsu, and I'm Happy," the blue cat grumbled, not disagreeing.

Cobra signaled to Hoteye and Jura to wait, and prepared himself as Cubellios stayed near the nightmare version of him lying on the ground. He swallowed against the roll of his stomach as the ground moved, only to be surprised when little paws picked him up of the ground.

"Direct attack?"

Cobra nodded, grinning maliciously, poison seeping out of his fingertips as they turned into claws, deep purple scales covering his arms.

"Charge."

Happy complied, going full speed. Cobra had to admit that the rush was unlike when he was riding on Cubellios. Brain turned when he heard the sound of someone hurtling towards him at high speeds, only to get Cobra's arm through his chest.

Happy was quick to drop the man, grabbing Natsu and pulling him away. Cobra fought back the nausea again as his feet landed on the ground. Brain grasped his arm, staring at him in betrayal, and Cobra just snarled, pushing the man back, heart still grasped in his claws. He kept his focus on Brain for a moment, dropping the organ into the dirt, feeling numb now that it was over.

"Erik?"

He turned, startled at the soft call, to see Lucy standing a few feet from him, brown eyes worried.

She didn't seem to care that he had just killed man. He opened his mouth, trying to say something, before closing it, even as Cubellios nudged the girl forward. Lucy smiled at the large snake, walking the rest of the way on her own. She glanced at the body, grimacing, before placing a gentle, and timid hand on his still scaled arm.

 _Now would be a good time to say something._

Cobra scowled up at Natsu, who was snickering with Happy. Lucy followed his gaze and rolled her eyes. She opened her mouth, lecture on her tongue when the ground lurched, reminding them that they were still very much on a vehicle.

Midnight walked up to them, "We need to stop this thing before it gets to Cait Shelter."

Probably he already had it programmed to attack the guild.

Cobra nodded in agreement. Lucy bit her lip, worrying it as she wished Hibiki had finished his search on a way to destroy it.

"I'm good at destroying stuff," Natsu put in cheerfully and Lucy sighed.

"Natsu, this might be a little big, even for you. It has to have a power source somewhere, maybe if we destroy that?"

"It has six," Midnight put in, "and they repair each other."

"So we destroy them all at the same time," Gray put in, walking up.

"Do we know where they are?" Jura asked, looking at Hoteye, "Richard-dono?"

The large, angular man shrugged, "They must be rather large lacrima, yes? They'd need to be able to recharge."

"They get their power by syphoning it from the ground."

They all turned to see Jellal, and Cobra snorted, noticing that while the man still had few memories, his soul was starting to sing again. Probably due to the red head that was next to him, her soul singing a similar song. They harmonized, though not as well as his own and Lucy's.

Lucy shifted closer to him, and he stiffened, not used to having anyone this close to him voluntarily. Especially when things were more or less calm, unlike the first time he kissed her, or rather, she kissed him. He pulled his thoughts back to the present when he realized how badly he wanted to do it again, knowing this was not the time or the place.

Midnight gave him a look, like he had projected his thoughts to the nightmare mage. Cobra scowled, glancing as they assessed everyone.

"So we all go looking and try to time it?" Lucy asked, "Do we not have a way of communicating?"

"Um…"

Everyone turned to the smallest dragon slayer, who gulped, "I can run try to play messenger."

Lucy gave Wendy a soft smile, kneeling down to her level, "Wendy its ok. Running would probably take too long on a place this size."

"Hibiki would be very useful right now," Jura said.

Midnight snorted, "They should be catching up. I left them at that monstrosity of a ship."

"Unconscious," Hoteye grumbled, and Midnight shrugged.

"They weren't too damaged."

Cobra snickered, and Lucy rolled her eyes. Lucy glanced around the group, counting, mentally pairing them up.

 _Erik and me and his friend, Natsu and Happy, Erza and Jellal, Gray and Midnight, Jura and Richard, Wendy and Charle. I wish we had someone to go with Wendy so she doesn't get lost. We need to find all the power lacrimas though._

 _"Can everyone hear me?"_

They all looked up, surprise on their faces as they saw the Christina flying above them.

Jura smiled, "Loud and clear."

 _"Great! I found a way to destroy it. You need to hit all six power lacrimas at the legs at the same time. I'm uploading the maps to you now!"_

 _"Once you get there let me know so I can give you the signal to destroy them!"_

Cobra glanced at Lucy and to the other members of the light guilds, and found it slightly comedic how there was an actual uploading status bar in front of them. He wondered what else could be uploaded directly to a person's brain like that.

Midnight was debating learning it so he could upload porn to Sawyer's brain one day. Cobra snickered, knowing who he'd have to kill if that ever happened to him.

"I heard that," Cobra taunted quietly, and Midnight made a face at him before returning to his normal drowsy look.

"How dare you betray master Brain!"

Cobra glanced back, gaze uninterested, at the stick that rose from beside Brain's corpse. He had forgotten about the animated cane.

"What is that?" Lucy asked, staring at it.

Cobra groaned, pushing Lucy a bit behind him, and Midnight gave it a bored look.

"Were you not watching when Brain betrayed Cobra?" Midnight asked.

The rest of the light wizards looked at the Nightmare mage a little shocked, before wincing. They had obviously forgotten about that. Except Lucy who was thinking up inventive ways of dealing with Brain's body. The pike up his ass would probably be the funniest, Cobra decided, if he were still alive.

He shot an amused glance towards her, and she grinned up at him sheepishly.

The skull glared, causing Lucy to wonder how it changed its expression. Numerous theories ran through her head before Midnight got fed up with the skull on a stick and smashed it. Midnight barely glanced at the dead body of his father before returning his attention to the group before them.

"Let's go in teams," Lucy said. Natsu grinned at her, "Let's go Happy, we got one!"

"Aye, sir!" the little cat called as the two sped off.

"I got two," Gray said, turning. Midnight glanced around before following him, easily catching up.

"We've got three," Cobra growled out, gently touching Lucy's arm to let her know to come with him. He opened his mouth to ask right after but she beamed up at him, as if sensing the question and nodded.

"I'll take four," Jura said, nodding to them. Richard followed without question, as Erza claimed five and sent Jellal with Wendy to six.

Lucy hoped Jellal didn't turn into his evil self in the process.

"He won't Bright Eyes," Cobra muttered as she guided him down a hall way.

Lucy glanced back at him and he attempted a smile. She appreciated the effort.

"Do you think he was being controlled?"

Cobra nearly stopped at the shock of the question, and Lucy blushed, even as she tugged his coat to get him to turn left. "I mean, well, he just looks and sounds different even though he's the same and-"

"I get it Bright Eyes."

He considered it, comparing what he remembered to what he knew now. He had only seen Jellal once after Brain got his hands on himself and his cell mates.

"It's possible."

Lucy nodded, worrying her lip again as she considered it, and remembering how happy Erza had looked next to him.

Cobra wondered if the red headed terror was happier with him there, but shrugged, not really caring that much. He was grateful for the better conditions of the tower after Jellal had taken over, and he had taken by Brain just a year later. Eleven or Twelve had apparently been the optimal time to implant a lacrima into a child.

A solid weight settled on his shoulder and Cobra absently scratched at Cubellios's chin.

Lucy glanced at the snake, still trying to figure out the familiar hint of magic she was feeling even as she directed them into a large antechamber.

"Hibiki, we're here."

 _"Good, just waiting on two others to get into place._

Cobra glanced at her gauging her power level as she dug out her keys. Angel's, he noted, were already on her key ring.

He opened his mouth to say something when Gemini popped out in Lucy's form, grinning at them.

Lucy jumped shocked, and Gemini was quick to hold up her hands in a nonthreatening manner. "I've come to help! Taurus right?"

Gemini Lucy glanced at Cobra, a sly look in her eyes and he sighed, resolved to sit back and let her handle it.

 _"Ok everyone's in place! On 3!"_

 _"1!"_

 _"2!"_

 _"3!"_

Lucy and Gemini summoned Taurus, and he felt the power rolling off them. He wondered if Angel knew she could have Gemini take her form as a power boost. The confidence and take charge as she directed Taurus however, was really sexy. He was surprised when she leapt into his arms, hugging him in joy after she hugged the celestial spirits. His heart warmed and he was quick to relax as he hugged her back. At least until the rumbles started.

"Shit," he muttered as he pulled her up into his arms and leapt onto Cubellios. He knew his friend was as tired as he was, the fight with Natsu having taken a lot out of them. To Lucy's credit, she didn't shriek like a banshee, and he was glad she didn't because he was sure he would have left her, other half or not. His ears were still ringing from Natsu's roar.

Cubellios managed to get them out safely, and Cobra stepped off her onto the ground, listening for any of Lucy's friends. He wondered if Midnight was taking the opportunity to get away safely.

"This way," he rumbled out, setting Lucy down and taking her hand. He knew his grip was probably a little tight, but the feelings she evoked and closeness she seemed to want was new to him.

She seemed to understand, and he heard the nervousness and fear in her own soul.

"Would you join our guild?" Lucy asked, almost pleading, "You could join Team Natsu with us, Natsu already said it was cool. We could get to know each other better and –"

Cobra chuckled, relaxing at her nervous prattle.

"I'm not much of a people person, and I am going to do some jail time."

He could feel the despair rolling off her and slowed down, pulling her to his chest, "If you wait for me, I'll join you there."

He could feel her smile into his chest, "Just like you promised to save me, I promise to wait for you."

He nodded, releasing her, and beginning to head towards where he heard her friends worrying over her, and oddly enough, Midnight worrying about him.

Erza was quick to grab Lucy from him, "Lucy! Are you hurt? We were beginning to worry. Did he do or say anything to you?! Do you need me to kill him? I will protect your honor at any cost!"

Lucy burst out in nervous laughter as she calmed her friend down, and Cobra moved to stand next to Midnight, "Thought you would've escaped."

Midnight glanced at him, and then watched Lucy interact with her guild.

"The other two have already been arrested. We've made our decision, and I'm tired of everything we've been through."

Cobra held back a snort and a quip to say that Midnight was always tired.

Midnight sighed, watching the group interact longingly, "Would we have been like that if Jellal hadn't destroyed the ships to take us away from the tower?"

Cobra shrugged, face softening as his gaze landed on Lucy. Luckily, during this mission her clothes hadn't gotten torn up to badly, even though she was in something other than she was this morning. Or yesterday morning, he noted as the sun began to rise, the sky becoming a lighter blue.

Midnight yawned, fighting to keep his eyes open.

Cobra felt the runes go up around them, not feeling the need to say anything. Watching Ichiya run into the barrier was hilarious. Somehow the small man had found his way to Gray and Midnight's location when they destroyed the lacrimas, and Midnight had released him.

"What is the meaning of this? Man!"

"This barrier was put up by the Mage Council. I am Lahar."

Lucy glanced at the barred cart behind the soldiers and walked over to Cobra, eyes worried.

Cobra stood straight, as did Midnight, but he stayed whereas Midnight was already walking over to surrender himself with Hoteye.

"Come visit me?" he finally asked softly, wishing that he could integrate himself in easier with her group of friends. Granted Natsu had already accepted him, but the other two were still giving him looks of suspicion.

"Yes," she said, soul brightening up at the question, even as it cried out because he was leaving. He didn't dare touch her, afraid that they'd arrest her too as an accomplice, or attack first for a perceived attack on her person.

She understood that too.

"See you soon, Erik," she whispered, and he glanced back at her to let her know he heard.

* * *

Cobra lay back in his cell, reading a book Lucy had lent him. She had even given Angel one at the platinum blonde's request. Even more odd was that Lucy was visiting Angel to begin with after her visits with him. Angel had even given Lucy permission to call her Sorano. Cobra smiled, putting the book on his chest as he stared up at the ceiling. The new council, while not being as cooperative as they had hoped, was still taking his actions into account leading up to the Nirvana incident, and the actions of his misfit family. If the rest of them were to be released for good behavior on parole, a different guild would need to volunteer, as they didn't want the Seis to be together. Lamia Scale had already claimed Richard. Somehow they had convinced Blue Pegasus to take Midnight, and two other guilds were considering Angel and Racer.

Makarov had been working on getting him released to Fairy Tail's custody for nearly five months now. Lucy was getting extremely excited, hoping he'd be out in time for the cherry blossom festival in Magnolia. Cobra didn't think he would be, but it was nice to see her excitement. Even better to hear his name on her lips, as he slowly worked on getting used to the small touches she was allowed to give. He glanced over at the cell door, watching some of the guards pass, mentally going over some of the requirements for his freedom that the council was laying down. He would be a part of Fairy Tail for as long as his parole was out. If the guild should be disbanded he needed to join and register at one that wasn't 'hosting' one of his former guild mates. He would be required to continue helping the council crack down on dark guilds.

He had snorted at that one. Most of the guilds that were left were Tartaros fodder, and he had tried to give them what information he knew about Tartaros.

They hadn't believed him. Makarov had. He was glad he was getting into Fairy Tail for that reason alone.

Though Lucy would always be his primary reason. He smiled, thoughts back on his soul mate. He was excited at the prospect at calling her his girlfriend. Her last visit, two days ago, she had informed him of the festival, and her hopes to get him special permission to come out. She had also timidly told him that Cubellios, who he had entrusted her with, wasn't really a snake. She was a human cursed to be absorbed into a silver celestial key, Serpens, which had given her the form of snake when she was just a baby.

His face darkened at that thought. Lucy, Poryluscia, Makarov, and Mirajane had managed to separate the girl from the key, breaking the curse without too much damage to either. Lucy had gotten a new key, and Cubellios, or Kinana as she was now called, had few memories. The fourteen year old just knew that she had to stay close to Lucy, and that her friend was coming back for her, and they'd be together again.

In a sense he was glad that she no longer remembered what she did as a snake. He was also glad that she was staying with Lucy in Lucy's apartment. He turned down Lucy's offer to bring her, though he missed them both.

Footsteps stopped outside his cell, and Cobra opened an eye to look sidelong at the guards.

"Come on. Hands."

Cobra snarled, hating this part of getting out of his cell. They did it every time he was to go to the visiting rooms or anywhere remotely near the outer areas of the prison. He was lucky they allowed him near the gym without the severely limiting cuffs on.

His jaw tensed as they clapped the magic binding cuffs on. He did not like them at all. He didn't like the idea of his tower family being placed back in them either. Angel peered out from her cell as he passed by, as did Sawyer. He could hear their well wishes, and their hope that they wouldn't see him pass them by again. He wished he could hear the souls of those around him. As it was, all he could hear right now was the scraping of a man three cells down, and the heartbeat of whomever they were passing.

He felt deaf, even though he knew he was still hearing more than what most people could. He was taken to a new room, and one of the guards put his book on the counter before they released the cuffs from his wrists. The cacophony of sound startled him for a moment, before he heard two familiar souls, one calling for his, to which his soul answered readily. His clothes were returned to him, and he was pointed to a room to change out of the magic dampening prison suit and into his own, now clean, clothing, which, oddly, had been repaired.

Not ten minutes later he was standing in front of Lucy and Makarov, book in hand. The guards were still with him as he listened to the terms of parole, and when to meet with his parole officer. He had to submit a form whenever he was to go on a mission and Fairy Tail would be assigning a person of nearly equal power level to be his partner. He had almost snorted at that one, knowing that they'd almost have to get someone that was immune to most poisons rather than same power level. Poison would still kill them no matter how powerful they were.

Maybe if he was lucky he could get the sky dragon slayer and Lucy as his hosts. Lucy because she was his as much as he was hers, and the sky dragon slayer because she would be easier to influence to leave them alone as a child. A glance at Makarov dashed that idea, as he had already determined that between Erza, Gray, and Natsu, Cobra would be in good hands.

Lucy kept her eyes on him, eager to get away from the rebuilt council building.

Cobra agreed with that sentiment.

"Hi Erik," she whispered, small smile on her face. She was practically vibrating with excitement, and Cobra wondered what she could possibly be so excited about, as her soul wasn't showing him anything he could make sense of.

He nodded to her, grip tightening on the book.

He waited as Makarov finished with the paperwork and joined them. "Let's be off."

Cobra eyed the carriage waiting for them with some trepidation, but got in after Lucy with little urging. Makarov followed, relaxing when he sat down, grumbling about procedures and how he was only allowed to help one of the five left from the Seis.

"I'm surprised you were willing to help me," Cobra finally admitted as the old man fell silent.

Makarov eyed him, "I saw you save Lucy."

Cobra blinked, and remembered back to when he started to turn against Brain. Makarov nodded to him, "I knew you had what it took to be a good man. You just needed help getting off the dark path. The right light to pull you back to where you should be."

Cobra glanced at the girl sitting next to him, and Lucy just smiled, hope in her eyes.

"Magic is usually good matching the right people, and this kind of soul magic generally can't be controlled. You have Lucy. You must have a good person in there, or you wouldn't have been able to break that charm spell. The one on her was especially potent."

Cobra's eyes darkened, the movement of the carriage not distracting him from his dark thoughts, even as his stomach churned.

Makarov opened an eye, amusement showing through, "But please refrain from killing anyone unless there are no other options. Especially if they haven't tried anything."

Cobra just sneered, knowing the old man was referring to Bora.

Lucy rolled her eyes, and Cobra caught the soft _He deserved it_ echoing in her soul.

He sat back, still unrepentant, even as he promised to watch himself. No one would touch what was his like that ever again.

Lucy relaxed next to him, her hand next to his on the carriage seat. She gave him a side long look, looking forward to getting to know him better.

Cobra closed his eyes, the warm feeling in his chest overcoming the slight motion sickness from the carriage ride.


	4. Chapter 4

I finally got around to finishing Tales of Xillia and then played Tales of Xillia 2. I want to know why Ludger was a good choice for a first name... especially with the way they were pronouncing it being so close to lougie... Oh well... thoroughly enjoyed both games, though I got a lot of couch potato jokes during the week and a half of straight play that it took.

Yeah, next chapter is being worked on. I'm having a hard time figuring out the trust build between the two and I feel like I'm moving the relationship too fast. And classes start again soon, so it's going to be awhile.

Here goes...

* * *

Cobra glanced back at the clock, amused, even as he stood a small ways off from the group that was talking excitedly about the upcoming cherry blossom festival. Wendy and Lucy sat inside Horologium, looking warm with the blankets around their shoulders. He kept silent, focusing on the musical notes of Lucy and the sky child. Even Natsu's soul was singing happily, trusting him to do his part and accepting him wholeheartedly.

Erza, Gray and Happy, however, were not pleased to have him there if the sour notes of their soul were any indication, even though they had been prepared months ago for his forced integration into the team.

Cobra snorted, glad that they were only members every once in a while. Natsu's stupidity he could deal with. The distrust about who he was to Lucy he could not. Cobra glanced back at the clock again, lips twitching slightly upward when Lucy grinned at him wholeheartedly.

He stopped, frowning when they got closer to the plant, and both Natsu and Lucy noticed.

"What's up?" Natsu asked, "We're almost done."

"Wyvern," Cobra grunted out, pointing upwards, "It's coming down to feed."

Natsu grinned, "We'll just have to give it warm welcome then!"

Lucy sighed, Horologium having left as the others dashed forward to intercept.

"So much for a plan," she grumbled, glancing at Wendy, "Come on, we'll see if we can sneak by while they're distracting it and get some of the plants."

Wendy nodded in agreement, and Cobra fell into step behind them, listening for any change in the battle. He was quick to grab the two and leap out of the way of a stray blast of ice.

 _Would've enjoyed the carnage and chaos if I had stayed back,_ he reflected as he set Lucy and Wendy down. Lucy grinned shyly up at him, "Thanks."

Cobra nodded and they continued forward at a faster pace. They quickly began to place plants in baskets, and Cobra stopped, snarling before grabbing Lucy and Wendy and running from the patch of green, pulling them away just in time for the wyvern to land in it, destroying the rest of the usable plants.

"Good going fire crotch," Cobra grumbled as Natsu beamed at him. Lucy and Wendy both looked at their baskets, glad they had managed to save enough of the plants to give to the vendor.

"I think we might be able to take some of these back with us for the festival," Erza commented, looking inside the baskets a bit greedily, pleased with their efforts.

"Good job, Lucy, Wendy."

Natsu, Wendy and Lucy frowned at Erza, and Cobra shook his head at them.

Lucy opened her mouth to say something, and Cobra shook his head at her.

"Forcing her to acknowledge me isn't going to score me any points," Cobra grumbled softly.

"Well I think you were really helpful," Wendy said softly, smiling up at him, "Thanks for saving us."

Cobra shifted uncomfortably, a warm feeling in his chest, slightly different from the one he got from Lucy, but still there. "Thanks kid."

Wendy beamed up at him, and Lucy smiled, just before she sneezed.

"Can we get off this mountain?" she whined, pulling her coat closer to her.

Cobra rolled his eyes, pulling her closer to him and wrapping his coat around the two of them.

Lucy sneezed again, "This might make it hard to walk."

"Well you aren't getting the coat," he grumbled, and she looked up, giving him a pleading look, though he could hear that she wasn't really interested in his coat and him getting sick.

He snorted, "Not happening."

She pouted, stepping back and hefting the basket she dropped. Gray sneered at Cobra, picking up his own jacket from where it lay on the ground and handing it over to Lucy who looked at it blankly for a second before grinning, "Thanks Gray."

Gray nodded, helping her get it on, much to Cobra's ire. Gray smirked at him.

 _That's how it's done asshole._

Cobra debated punching the ice mage but refrained when he noticed Wendy shivering. The smaller girl would be much easier to carry down the mountain. She squeaked when Cobra picked her up, somehow managing to wrap his long coat around them and button it up until it was just below Wendy's head.

Lucy giggled as she picked up Wendy's basket.

 _Oh no! It's the two headed dragon slayer!_

Cobra glanced at Lucy, amused at the inside joke as everyone else looked at them a little lost.

Lucy's soul hummed happily at their confusion, enjoying herself. "Let's go," she said, sneezing once again. Wendy glanced at her in concern, making a mental reminder to heal her when they got off the mountain.

"Thanks little bit," Cobra murmured to her, and Wendy beamed up at him.

"Thank you, nii-chan."

The warm feeling entered his chest again, and part of him was wondering what it took to be a big brother. He glanced at Lucy, whose soul was humming happily as they descended the mountain. Natsu was distracting Erza and Gray from him, which he appreciated. So long as they didn't think about him too much, the sour notes regarding their thoughts on him didn't cloud his hearing.

It allowed him to focus on listening for any other attackers.

Wendy healed Lucy while Natsu and Erza delivered the plants to the client. Gray glared at him from across the hotel room, thinking dark thoughts. Gray was very unhappy, Cobra's rap sheet running through his head. He glared back at Gray, imagining a few gruesome ways to dispose of the ice make mage.

Pity Lucy would get upset.

She'd probably dump him.

He hadn't asked her out yet.

Cobra glanced at Lucy and his glare softened, much to Gray's ire. Cobra ignored him in favor of wondering how the hell he was supposed to actually ask her out. He wanted to do that as much as he wanted to kiss her again. He wondered how much she knew about his rap sheet. And he wondered what she would do when she found out he regretted very little of it. Well, maybe the little family in that one town. The terrified look on the little girl's face had reminded him of Sorano at one point, and he hesitated. Brain took care of her.

He wondered why they had to take care of the children when it was only the father Brain wanted to get rid of.

He shook himself, missing the familiar weight of Cubellios on his shoulders. Lucy glanced at him curiously, wondering what had caused him to turn inward on himself. Cobra relaxed against the wall, the small upturn of his lips reassuring her that he was fine.

 _I'll have to tell her,_ he thought to himself, knowing he couldn't make a new start with her without disclosing it.

He just wasn't sure where to begin. He couldn't claim to love her. He didn't trust her with that yet. He didn't trust himself with the feelings she evoked in him. Part of him wanted to run, but the bigger part wanted to stay. She was his. His to protect, his to hold. He was not going to relinquish that.

"Hey, lover boy, let's get some food," Gray snapped.

Lucy threw a pillow at the ice-make mage, grumbling in her head how she hadn't even been asked out yet.

Cobra made a mental note to do that as soon as he felt ready, and then wondered when he'd ever get her alone to do so.

Wendy tucked Lucy in before grabbing Cobra's hand, "Good idea. We could all use a warm meal after that journey."

Lucy yawned, "Wake me up for dinner."

Wendy nodded, dragging the two males out the door of their room.

* * *

Cobra exchanged a look with Natsu as they stood at Lucy's door. She groaned when Natsu suggested he bring Wendy back to heal her again.

"She already has Natsu," Lucy groaned, voice slightly muffled as she brought her arm up to catch a sneeze, despite knowing that neither Natsu nor Cobra were likely to get sick.

"Sorry Erik," she coughed, turning back into her apartment, "I'm just going to sleep. Have fun at the party. Kina's already there."

Cobra tried hard not to snicker, despite worrying about her. Natsu shut the door softly, frowning. "She was really looking forward to this."

A different note rang out from Natsu's soul, a note that made Cobra a bit jealous.

He doubted Natsu really knew what the feeling was other than friendship, and he hoped Natsu never figured it out. Natsu was a much better match for Lucy. His soul was just as musical.

"How upset would they be if I stayed with her?"

Natsu glanced at him brightening at the prospect before wincing at the thought of Gray and Erza.

Cobra groaned as well, "Forget I asked."

Happy sighed, "Yeah, Gray and Erza would come and disturb Lucy's rest trying to save her when she doesn't need it."

Cobra decided he wouldn't poison the little blue cat today. He'd save that dream for tomorrow.

That lead him to showing up at the picnic with Natsu, both trying to figure out how to get Lucy to see what she had been so excited to see and get her well.

Cobra glanced at Natsu, "I can't do that I'd get thrown back into prison."

Natsu gave him a sheepish look. But didn't discard the idea of digging up one of the trees and bringing it to Lucy.

Cobra took a deep breath, trying to tune out the cacophony of noise from all the souls in the area. "The logistics of that would be a nightmare," he finally tacked on as he viewed the grove, "These trees are huge."

Natsu glanced at them before regarding Cobra.

Cobra ignored the bingo card, leaving it on the ground as he considered the options. Lucy had been really excited, and he wanted her to see the rainbow sakura trees.

"If she's feeling better tonight I can bring her here during the show," Cobra muttered.

"We should leave a little early then," Natsu muttered.

Cobra glanced around, noting that only Wendy and Mira had noticed the neither he nor Natsu were participating or eating.

Cobra shut his eyes, listening, mapping out the area with sound. He found the perfect place to bring her to let her see it after the sun had set. Or during the sunset if he could swing it.

* * *

Lucy awoke just before sunset to a knock at her door. Yawning, she noted that she felt much better than she had earlier, though still a little bleary. She opened the door rubbing her eyes, smiling up at Natsu and Cobra. Natsu nudged Cobra forward.

"Hi," she yawned, "Erik, Natsu."

"Get dressed," Cobra gruffly said after regarding her a moment.

Lucy gave him a confused look, and began to frown, slightly hurt that he just expected her to hop to, and Natsu nudged him again, hard.

Cobra licked his lips, instinct warring with what he knew he should do and taking a deep breath.

"If you're f-feeling better," he finally got out, a little upset that Natsu was watching even though they had managed to leave Happy behind, "Would you like to see the trees with me?"

He clammed up, glad he had gotten that out. Natsu was just happy his coaching, as odd as that was, had helped out. Lucy's soul hummed happily and she beamed up at him.

"Let me get dressed."

"Dress warm," he growled out as she shut the door.

He listened as she rushed through her closet, finding her warmest clothing. Five minutes later she was back out the door, sniffling a little, but ready to go. Cobra glanced at Natsu who gave him a thumbs up from behind Lucy's back.

Clueless as Natsu was, Cobra decided, he was a good guy to have on his side. He held an arm out for Lucy, which she accepted happily, and Cobra escorted her out of the building. Cobra was quick to find the place he had scouted out before. There were less sounds, less people as most of the town had gravitated to where Fairy Tail was hanging out. Lucy took a deep breath, glad that she could despite her slightly runny nose. Cobra glanced at the sky, sitting down beneath one of the trees. It was nearly dark, the sun having just finished setting over the horizon. Lucy sat down next to him, pleased when he took the initiative and pulled her closer.

Cobra, for his part, was tense, even as he enjoyed the sounds the blonde made as she watched the sakura petals of the trees begin to glow and change color. She smiled up at her soul mate, cheeks flushed.

Cobra cleared his throat, figuring it was now or never. "Would you-"

He pulled her closer, careful not to grip her too tight, and tried again. "Would you be my girlfriend?"

Her eyes lit up and he heard her answer before she even voiced it. Cobra tried hard to relax as she hugged him tightly. She softened her grip as she felt him tense up, backing off a little but not letting go, a question on her mind.

Cobra grunted, looking down to the side, "A little at a time."

Lucy nodded, settling down next to him once again and leaning her head against his shoulder lightly. When he didn't shy away, and relaxed slightly, she settled a bit more heavily against him, sighing in content.

It wasn't long before she fell asleep.

Cobra looked down at her, corner of his lips twitching. A moment later his head shot up and Natsu came barreling through the clearing, "We gotta get her back to the apartment. Kinana went back with some soup for Lucy and found her gone and I didn't get a chance to intercept her before she saw Erza."

Cobra scowled, scooping Lucy up into his arms as Natsu led him a roundabout way to Lucy's apartment in an effort to avoid the requip and ice make mages.

Cobra was pretty sure Erza had told Gray in order to cover more ground. They soon landed on the roof, Cobra keeping an ear out, and finding only Kinana waiting in the apartment. Natsu knocked on the window, grinning and waving at the fourteen-year-old girl, who looked delighted to see him.

"Did you find-?"

"She was with Cobra the whole time," Natsu said crawling through the open window and positioning himself so he could accept the sleeping girl from Cobra.

Cobra was loathe to hand her down, but knew that getting caught on her roof with her in his arms would be suicide since he couldn't actually kill Lucy's two disapproving friends.

Cobra handed her down and then crawled through himself, winking at Kinana. She was probably the only one he had warmed up to right away her presence being amazingly familiar.

Kinana gave him a sheepish grin, "Sorry Erik. I didn't realize they didn't like you."

Cobra shrugged, "No harm no foul. Sides they're not going to dislike me any less for a long time."

Natsu gave him a grin, figuring out he had popped the question and Cobra scowled at him. "Not that question."

Natsu shrugged, already considering it a given thing.

Cobra just grunted, ignoring the way his cheeks heated as he glanced at his girlfriend, who Natsu had gotten her back under the covers.

Cobra looked around for her boots, and felt a wave of relief when spotting them at the foot of the bed. She would have murdered someone should she find out they had put her to bed with her shoes on, and he didn't want Kinana to pay the price.

Natsu glanced at where he was looking and shuddered, "We learned the hard way."

Cobra gave a sympathetic wince. He hadn't had much experience with his soul mate's temper, but the few times she had come to visit angry, he found himself genuinely afraid. He wondered if that was because he didn't want to kill her.

Cobra glanced at the door and the window, eyes wide before slipping into the bathroom. Kinana watched curiously before jumping when the door was slammed open to reveal Erza and Gray came tumbling through the window with practiced ease, somehow not disturbing Lucy.

Natsu scowled at Gray, "Keep it down, she's sleeping."

Gray opened his mouth to retort, and shut his mouth with a snap at the look Kinana was giving him.

Natsu glanced at the small teen, gulping, and glad she wasn't angry at him.

"You two have no right to barge in here like that," the younger girl hissed, genuinely angry, "Look I'm sorry I didn't have a chance to contact you but Lucy was just deeper under the covers sleeping alright?! And don't you dare go back through the window! Use the door like a real person!"

Gray nodded rapidly before grabbing Erza and running out the door. The dark aura surrounding Kinana disappeared, and she smiled at Natsu. Lucy giggled drowsily from the bed, "Making you my roommate was the best decision I ever made."

Kinana beamed at Lucy before moving to the retro oven where the soup was being kept warm, "I brought you soup."

Happy flew through the still open window, looking apologetic, "Sorry, I didn't get to warn you in time."

Lucy sat up, smiling at the blue cat and putting sock feet on the ground and rubbing her eyes sleepily, "Where'd Erik go?"

"Hiding in the bathroom," Kinana said.

Natsu went and peaked in the bathroom, and found Cobra curiously examining several of Lucy's bath soaps. He was about to say something when Cobra opened one and shot some into his mouth.

"The hell?"

Cobra rolled his eyes, "I'm a poison dragon slayer."

Natsu nodded, still confused, and Cobra sighed, holding up the bottle, "It's poison. I was curious how it tasted."

Natsu cocked his head, "And?"

Cobra wrinkled his nose, "It's terrible."

Natsu snorted before walking out, "Lucy I don't think you have to worry about Cobra eating your bath stuff."

Lucy glanced at him curiously, before fixing Cobra with that look as he exited the bathroom, trying to decide if she should get angry or not.

"Stuff tastes worse than it smells," Cobra groaned before scowling, "I didn't take that much. I'm not exactly getting a lot of poison intake."

Lucy blinked, deciding against getting angry, it would just give her a headache. "Do you want some bleach?"

Cobra shrugged, "Sure."

Kinana grabbed a cup from the cabinet and the bleach from under the sink. Cobra winced because it wasn't cold, but then decided it wasn't worth complaining over.

He glanced over at Lucy, who had finished her soup and was yawning. He downed the cup and nudged Natsu, "Let's go."

Lucy smiled at them sleepily, "Thanks guys."

Natsu grinned at her and nodded, moving to go through the window when Kinana cleared her throat. He paused and then made for the door as if that had been his intention the whole time, Happy giggling at him behind blue paws. Cobra glanced at Lucy, considering and she smiled and waved him off, "Thanks for getting me out to see the cherry blossoms."

He nodded, exiting the through the door, still feeling as if he should have done something. He listened one more time to see if there was anything Lucy might have wanted from him, but her soul was humming happily, and he could hear her breathing even out, indicating she was asleep. He'd dwell on it more later.

* * *

The next day Cobra walked into the guild to see Wendy staring at the mission board. He glanced over to where Kinana was shadowing Mira, learning the bar trade, and decided to bother Wendy. "Find a job Little Bit?"

Wendy started before turning around and grinning up at him, "Hi Cobra-nii."

Cobra shifted uncomfortably, "You sure you want to go by yourself?"

Wendy nodded, turning to look at the board once more. Mira walked over, "Looking for another job already?"

Wendy nodded cheerfully.

"You've only been taking small jobs around town," Charle huffed, annoyance obvious in her tone.

Cobra rolled his eyes, sitting back on a stool.

Natsu and Gray walked over, Gray eyeing Cobra, but otherwise ignoring him.

"Don't you think it's time to take a big job Wendy?"

Gray looked at the girl, thoughtful, "Yeah, like in a far off town?"

Wendy just grinned, though Cobra could sense the slight fear in the back of her mind, "I want to hurry up and get stronger so I can be useful to everyone!"

Cobra studied the girl, wondering why she thought she wasn't useful already. "You're already more useful than most Little Bit," he grumbled softly, knowing she'd hear, "You're a healer."

She blushed grinning at him thankfully, "I'll do my best!"

A thought crossed Mira's mind, and Cobra rolled his eyes before focusing on Kinana who had come to sit with him. Lucy walked back over, huffing, still annoyed with the little blue cat.

She sat down, pouting, "You think I'm nice and admirable right?"

Cobra looked at her, a slow grin spreading over his face and she was immediately on guard. It was not a NICE grin. Kinana, however, interrupted whatever he was going to say.

"You were nice enough to give me space in your apartment," the girl said, "And you have admirable patience when dealing with your team."

Lucy blushed, and looked down, suddenly remembering all the times she hadn't been patient, and suddenly didn't feel quite as admirable. "Thanks Kinana."

Kinana smiled, thinking she had actually made Lucy's day. Lucy, however, grew quiet, turning to listen to Mira to keep herself distracted from her thoughts. Lucy blinked when she recognized the name and the play ran through her mind.

Cobra grinned, relishing the memory of the complete and utter chaos, terrible acting aside.

Natsu freaked out as he remembered.

"Wendy," Gray cautioned, "Just forget it."

Lucy twitched as Wendy decided to take the job, despite Charle's reservations.

"Why are you two fighting? There's no need to be so on edge Charle."

The white cat huffed, ignoring Lucy, and Cobra held back a growl, eyes narrowing in on the white cat, who was worrying about Wendy.

"Are you really thinking about going alone?" Mira asked.

Kinana watched, eyes wide, and Cobra glanced at her, before nodding in Wendy's direction.

"I'll come!"

They glanced at Kinana, and Mira frowned, "But we haven't had a chance to…"

"It'll be fine," Kinana said cheerfully, "It doesn't sound like he really needs a mage, just cheering up."

She looked at the blue haired slayer, "Mind if I join you?"

Wendy's face lit up, "Everything's an experience right?!"

Lucy glanced at her boyfriend, smiling, silently accusing him of setting this up. He just nodded, a bit proud of himself. Kinana was his closest friend, his sister, even if she didn't remember it. He wanted her to be happy.

"Wendy you've just gotten used to guild life and Kinana you're still new. I'm going to assign someone to go with you," Makarov suddenly interrupted. Cobra raised an eyebrow but didn't protest. He could already tell that Natsu and Lucy were planning on tagging along, meaning he might also.

"Now who's been there before," Makarov asked, looking around the room, "Ah Happy!"

The blue cat looked shocked and Makarov nodded, "Let's see and who else. Ah, Freed! You've got nothing better to do right?"

Cobra eyed the green haired mage, knowing little about him aside from that he was calm, slightly depressed, and a little annoyed at the prospect of going. Cobra decided he might not be against hanging out with the green haired bookworm as long as he was quiet. The thought of making friends with any of the other fairies was somewhat nauseating, however, if he could find a decent one that would lend him a couch. Maybe it would be worth it to get out of Natsu's place.

He wondered if Lucy knew how filthy Natsu's place was.

She'd probably freak out and clean it. And then get nostalgic about all the crap Natsu kept.

Cobra groaned, knowing it wasn't a bad thing that Natsu hoarded memories, but he wished he could get his own place that was clean.

"Why Freed?" Natsu, Lucy and Gray synced.

Cobra glanced at them, and then at Makarov, who was thinking about the meeting with Cobra's parole officer. Cobra winced, having forgotten about that.

So much for going to see Wendy. Or any kind of carnage of a play.

Lucy bit her lip as they sent Wendy and Freed off. Cobra nudged her slightly, "My fucking parole officer'll be here in an hour."

Lucy winced, having forgotten all about it, "And your required psychiatrist appointment."

Cobra blinked, having forgotten about that too. It was going to be a long day.

"You should go after Wendy after talking to the parole officer," he said, "Kitty's going to go by herself if not."

Lucy blinked and looked down at Charle, who was still glaring after Wendy, Freed, and Happy before looking up at him worriedly.

Cobra snorted, "I promise to not kill the psychiatrist."

Her gaze narrowed, no longer looking worried.

"Or scare him or her too badly."

Her shoulders relaxed, which let him know how seriously she was taking his promise. He almost shook his head at how stupid that was.

The amount of trust she put in him scared him. Her leaving for some hours might help him get his thoughts together.

Cobra shuddered at the bright smile she suddenly gave him, and he wondered where her optimism and belief came from. Her leaving for a few hours to a day would be a good thing.

As long as that idiot of a playwright didn't keep her for longer to be an actress. Then he'd have to hunt them down, and the Magic Council would not like the consequence.

* * *

Thanks for everyone who liked/followed and reviewed. I really appreciate constructive criticism to help my writing style.

See you next time.

Beta'd by Infinitely Panda.


	5. Chapter 5

So here's the next chapter. Dunno when I'll get anything else out, classes aren't going as hot for me this semester... My concentration is shot.

Well... here goes :p

* * *

Lucy winced as she sat down next to her boyfriend. Natsu was sitting near them, leaning against a pillar as he slept. Lucy sighed, glancing at Cobra and then at the food before him.

"Don't even try it," he said, lifting his fork to eat more, "The demon woman put poison in it for me."

Lucy pouted, not yet willing to get up and order her own food, or bother Mira.

Cobra snorted, "Don't expect me to do it either."

"Chivalry is dead," Lucy moaned, laying her head on the table.

Cobra snorted, "Chivalry is misogynistic."

Lucy quirked an eyebrow as she looked up at him, "So you're being a modern gentleman?"

Cobra swallowed what he had in his mouth, nodding sagely, causing her to giggle.

"Why the hell are you still sore? I thought you had a huge tub."

"It helped," Lucy replied, face down in her arms, "But that race the other day was too awful."

Cobra blinked and nodded, not wanting her to really start complaining.

Lucy looked at him suspiciously, "Not going to take the opportunity to tease me?"

Cobra snorted, "Do I look like Natsu?"

At this Lucy sat up straight, a hand going to her chin as she studied him closely. Cobra scowled at her and she suddenly grinned, "I dunno, if we lightened your hair a little…"

"You aren't touching my hair."

Lucy's face became mock serious, "Then no. You don't look like Natsu."

"Damn straight."

Lucy snorted, glancing to where the master and Gildarts were sitting, talking about something.

"S class trials," Cobra said, "Something about an island."

"Handy," Lucy replied, "But also not really nice."

Cobra scowled, "I can't exactly turn it off."

Lucy's gaze softened, not having wanted to upset him. "I know. I'm sorry."

Cobra eyed her, but relaxed again, putting cutlery on his cleared plate.

He eyed his girlfriend as she sighed again, resting her head on the table. "I'm so bored," she whined, "The rain sucks."

"Sorry Tinkerbell," Cobra snorted, "Neverland needed the rain."

"Didn't realize you worked weather magic Peter Pan," she responded hotly. She eyed him, opening her mouth to make another comment when the world went white.

* * *

Lucy frowned, eyeing the white powder from the inside of Horologium, confused.

"Where is Erik?"

The clock's reply was muffled, and suddenly they were above the powder that surrounded them. Horologium disappeared in a flash and she was suddenly scooped up and pulled tightly to a warm chest. She sat for a minute listening to his rapidly beating heart before reaching her arms around him, still confused.

"What happened to Neverland?" she finally asked.

There was a soft, wavering bark of laughter as Cobra slowly relaxed his grip.

"Dammit Tinkerbell, that was terrifying."

She backed up a step to look up at him, startled at the paleness beneath his tan. She could feel his body shaking with nervous energy, and slowly relaxed herself, hoping it would help him.

He swallowed, taking a breath. "It helps a bit."

Lucy nodded to him and looked around her, eyes widening as she took in the sudden absence of everything but what appeared to be very fine sand.

"Magnolia," she whispered, her heart aching before she looked around. "Where's Kina? And Wendy?"

"Natsu?! Kina?! Wendy?!" she yelled out, facing away from Cobra. He winced before covering her mouth as she opened it again. "Wendy, Natsu and the cats are that way," he grumbled nodding his head in the direction he heard them, "I don't hear Kina at all."

Lucy looked up at him, bottom lip trembling as she worried. Cobra covered her ears with his hands before sending out a roar, garnering the attention of the other two dragon slayers. Lucy was surprised at their quick arrival, followed shortly by Mystogan, and Gajeel.

Cobra eyed Gajeel with distaste, wishing Lucy would let him take revenge for her, but she'd already forgiven the iron dragon slayer. Lucy put a hand on Cobra's arm to prevent him from lashing out as Gajeel sidled away from him towards Wendy. Wendy gave him a wavering smile before giving Mystogan a determined look.

"They were all taken to Edolas, and turned into a lacrima to be used for fuel," Mystogan began, "Edolas is a land where magic is fading. People can only use it in a lacrima form. Dragon Slaying magic has a special property in Edolas, and is the key to returning Magnolia from a lacrima form to normal form. These will allow you to use your magic on Edolas."

Lucy studied the small pill she was given nervously before eating it. The dragon slayers had already popped them into their mouths.

"What about us?" Happy asked, confused.

Mystogan looked down at them, brow furrowed, "You are Exceeds. You should be able to use your magic just fine. Edolas is where you originated from."

Happy blinked, and Charle narrowed her eyes at Mystogan, opening her mouth to ask another question when Mystogan looked up, "We must hurry. Here, I'll split the medicine between you."

He handed Wendy, Lucy, and Gajeel a small jar of pills each, and grabbed one of his staves. "I'll give you a boost. Hold on. Remember, all of Magnolia will be in lacrima form. I'm sorry I wasn't able to stop this."

Lucy squeaked in surprise as she felt herself pulled up against Cobra before the world disappeared in a bright flash of light and she felt herself flying. They both stumbled when they landed, Natsu, Wendy, Happy, Charle, and Gajeel nowhere near them.

"A little warning would have been nice," Lucy grumbled as she steadied herself.

"Tattoo face thought the anima or whatever was closing," Cobra grumbled, "I'm going to poison him when I see him next."

"Just make him a little sick. We need to find Fairy Tail."

"Why can't I make him a lot sick?"

Lucy huffed at him and playfully shoved him as she looked around at the new terrain. "Well the white rabbit has sent us down the rabbit hole. I miss Neverland already."

Cobra snorted as she ran through the story in her head. "Well my White Queen," Cobra purred out, "I hear people this way. Sounds like a settlement."

Lucy lifted her nose a little and smiled at him, "Very well, Hatter, please, lead the way."

Cobra nodded, listening out for anything coming their way as he made his way towards the town.

-page break-

Cobra frowned as they looked down at the town from the cliff. The first thing he noted, was that Lucy's choice in clothing was probably going to get them into trouble. The second thing he noticed, was the distinct lack of magical items in it except for what appeared to be a black market magic shop tucked away in a dark alley and beneath the streets.

Cobra debated giving Lucy his trench coat, and then grinned evilly. He really needed a good fight that wasn't Natsu being stupid.

"Let's go," Lucy said, oddly optimistic, "Maybe Natsu, Wendy, Happy and Charle will be down there."

"They're approaching," Cobra said, "Let's go."

Lucy looked back at him curiously when he paused, looking a little off to the side and frowning. "Erik?"

Cobra shook himself and they made their way into town.

Lucy frowned as she looked around, trusting Cobra to lead them to their friends. She was very much aware of the stares she was getting for her short skirt and tank top, and while she was usually used to such attention, something felt off about this.

"They think you're the Lucy from this world," Cobra finally grumbled to her, "And apparently she doesn't usually dress like that."

"Oh," Lucy said softly in understanding. After that she did her best to pretend the stares were for Cobra and not her, but still managed to fiddle with the hem of her skirt. Cobra glanced at her and grabbed one of her hands, holding it tightly in his own, "Ignore it."

Taking a deep breath, Lucy attempted to relax, gripping Cobra's hand tightly. She looked up at him, studying his profile, wondering what he'd look like with the Mad Hatter's hat on his head.

Cobra snorted, wondering if he should try it. He snarled and pulled Lucy away as a guard reached for her. The guard stopped, startled by Cobra, recognition in his eyes as he paled. "C-commander?! But you're dead!"

Cobra snarled again, pulling Lucy closer to him as the guard and his comrades pulled themselves together, focusing on Lucy, "You are Lucy, correct?"

Lucy frowned, confused, opening her mouth to reply when a wave of flame encompassed the guards, and Cobra groaned.

"I was looking forward to a fight," he growled out, causing Lucy to sigh. Cobra suddenly leapt to dodge a whip made of light, and Lucy glanced over to see who was wielding it, surprised to come face to face with herself.

"You alright?" her twin asked, and Lucy gave a pained smile.

"Yeah, but you just attacked my boyfriend…"

Edo-Lucy stopped and stared while Natsu just nodded. Cobra sneered, and dropped from the roof.

"We need to move. More guards are coming."

Edo-Lucy scowled at him warily, but motioned for them to follow her, quickly leading the way to an inn that owed her a favor.

* * *

Lucy sighed in relief as she relaxed in the tub with her Edolas self, who was glaring at her.

"Do you know what he did?" Edo-Lucy growled out.

Lucy opened one eye, "I know his rap sheet, and he's not the same guy as the one that was from here. He's from Earthland, and he's my boyfriend."

Edo-Lucy humphed, and then looked down. "I know that," she whispered, "But it still hurts to see him."

Lucy softened a bit, but wasn't willing to let her get into whatever the other Erik did. "I'm sorry," she whispered. Edo-Lucy closed her eyes and took a deep breath, gathering herself. Lucy suddenly saw more of herself in the other girl as she smiled, nodding cheerfully. The smile wasn't quite the same, but Edo-Lucy was still Lucy.

Lucy groaned, rubbing her forehead, "I'm just going to make my head hurt. At this rate the only one who's going to be able to tell us apart is Erik."

Edo-Lucy blinked, "Is that his magic?"

"Kind of," Lucy said as Edo-Lucy got out of the tub and wrapped a towel around her.

"I'm going to test it."

Lucy yelped as she slipped trying to get out of the tub. By the time she had made it out and gotten a towel around her, Edo-Lucy had approached Erik, who was scowling at her. He dodged her arms when Edo-Lucy tried to grab him.

"You aren't her."

Edo-Lucy smirked, "So you can tell."

She fiddled with the knot on her towel, and Lucy grabbed her, "Don't do that!"

"I don't mind," Edo-Lucy smirked, causing Lucy and Cobra to scowl, and Lucy dragged her back into the restroom to get dressed. They came back a moment later, dressed, Edo-Lucy looking put out.

"Hey," Happy started, "You know you could pull out Gemini and then we could have a contest to see who the real Lucy is."

Lucy blinked considering it before pulling out the key. Cobra face palmed, but figured since they would be resting tonight it would be fine.

He sat back as Happy decided he would be the announcer and had Natsu guess who was who. Natsu jokingly picked Gemini, causing both Lucy's to get angry. A few moments later Lucy had Cancer out to cut Edo-Lucy's hair.

"This'll make things easier," Edo-Lucy said, "If your friends are anywhere, they'll be in the capitol. There'll be an airship leaving for there from the docks I showed you on the way here in the morning."

"We have to get on," Natsu growled out, eyes narrowing as he became serious.

Charle looked down, apprehensive. Wendy was agreeing with Natsu, even as she grabbed Charle for comfort.

Cobra settled himself near a window so he could keep an ear out. He dozed lightly, as such he was aware when Edo-Lucy began to get dressed, and head out the door.

"Not helping?" he grumbled, opening one eye to glare at her.

She glared back about to open her mouth and he smirked, "Good luck. Might not want to yell lest you wake up the rest, which will ruin your get away."

Edo-Lucy sneered turning and exiting the hotel room, somehow managing to not slam the door.

Cobra shut his eyes again, dozing until Lucy's exclamation of surprise resounded throughout the room.

She ran out of the bedroom, looking around wildly before a disappointed look crossed her face. "Guess she's not really like me at all," she whispered.

Cobra sighed, "Bright eyes you two are as different as night and day. But deep down, she loves her guild as much as you love yours. They aren't the same."

Lucy sighed, and then nodded, still disappointed, and Cobra made a face, "She went to rally them."

Lucy perked up, "Think it'll work?"

Cobra shrugged, "Depends on how ready they are to do without magic."

Lucy bit her lip, "There is that."

He listened to her for a minute before reminding her that this had been a long time in coming and they had been stealing the lives of people in order to fuel their magic.

Lucy still looked sad, wishing for another way to help their guild and not leave these people without magic. Cobra scowled at her, but didn't say anything as Wendy and Natsu finally got up, looking for Edo-Lucy.

"She's gone," Cobra told them. Natsu sulked a moment, "She promised she'd help."

"She did," Cobra said, "Now let's go. We need to get on that transport."

Natsu nodded, and they set off.

* * *

Cobra groaned in the back of the vehicle next to Natsu, wishing Lucy was sitting in the back with him, and not next to the other version of Natsu that was at home driving a vehicle and very, very confidant doing so.

He was a bit jealous.

That subsided when Lucy looked back at him worriedly, wondering why Edo-Natsu wasn't having the same reaction as Edo-Lucy did towards him.

"Erik Knightwalker was a pretty awesome guy before the guilds were outlawed. Lucy doesn't know it but he died helping us get her out. He was helping Lissana get out when one of the idiot soldiers cause a cave in."

He didn't say anymore, except to tell them to get out of his car when he stopped suddenly. Both Cobra and Natsu silenced Lucy's protests about him promising to take them to the capitol by dashing out of the car, kneeling to reassure themselves they were on solid ground. Lucy rolled her eyes as she stepped out, turning to look at the other Natsu, who was about to slam his door. Lucy cringed back as Natsu pushed her aside to grab Edo-Natsu and haul him out of the car. She smiled up at Cobra as he caught her, only to be startled when Edo-Natsu began to shriek about them not hurting him.

Cobra's eye twitched, and Lucy dragged him to the cliff edge to let Natsu do whatever it was Natsu was doing so Cobra wouldn't kill either of them. Cobra peered over the cliff, nudging Lucy after a moment, "They're down there. Gajeel is too."

Lucy cocked her head to the side and then turned, mouth dropping open at the prospering city. She scowled, searching the city and then the skyline, blinking when she saw the giant crystal floating above the city.

"That must be Magnolia," she said, pointing.

Wendy walked up behind them, "Are you sure?"

Wendy narrowed her eyes, a breeze dancing around her as she studied the giant lacrima crystal. "There's a piece missing," she muttered.

Lucy and Wendy both turned back to the two Natsus. Edo-Natsu was looking longingly at his car from his place in Natsu's grip, and Lucy almost giggled at the sight.

"Natsu, we have to go."

Natsu pouted, but released his counterpart. Privately Lucy wondered if the two would ever truly get along, even with her Natsu's easy going nature.

She felt Cobra shrug behind her, "Come on Queenie."

Lucy immediately made a face and Cobra eyed at the immediate connection she made. Lucy looked up with a pained smile, "Virgo tried calling me that at first, because of my choice in weapon."

Cobra was tempted to start laughing before he eyed her whip, and his thoughts immediately went to the tower.

"I know you hate the weapon," she said softly, "But right now it's the only thing I'm decent enough with to protect myself."

Cobra sneered, turning away and heading to the city, ignoring Lucy's cry to wait. After a few moments Cobra found himself in an alleyway, cursing himself for getting himself lost. He couldn't hear Lucy's soul over the cacophony of thoughts, sounds, and cheers of celebration. He made his way towards the sounds after composing himself. He was stopped suddenly, by a guard, who was looking at him as if he were a ghost. Cobra sneered, feeling the poison dance at his fingertips before the guard suddenly ran off, intent on telling someone named Knightwalker.

Cobra chased after him, cursing at how fast the fucker was, before realizing that the source of the guard's speed came from his boots. Cobra eyed the boots as he ran, trying to decide if he'd be able to smuggle them back for Sawyer.

The guard broke through the town to the palace, and Cobra stopped, hiding himself. He listened, trying to determine the best course of action. He sneered hiding further into the shadows as a few guards ran around the corner with a familiar looking woman, the shock of scarlet hair setting him on edge as he recognized the monster woman.

"Erik," she called, voice almost loving, "Come out. Nee-sama won't hurt you. Just come back to us."

Cobra sneered, debating the merits of trying to fool them into believing he was Erik Knightwalker so he could find out what was going on. He listened closer to Edo-Erza as she passed his hiding space, and decided against it. She was suspicious already. He waited until they passed and then made his way back to the palace gates, listening as the guards talked. He wondered how far he'd be able to stretch his listening magic, and took a deep breath, focusing. Lucy was always trying to improve, always working hard, and it made him want to work hard also, just to see her proud smile.

He calmed himself as he sent his magic out. He had never exercised his listening magic at long range, due to the close ranged nature of his dragon slaying magic. But this was an exercise he was determined to master.

He was listening in on the king's plans from his perch in the shadows when he suddenly went deaf. He snarled eyes widening in surprise before his mind, unable to cope with the sudden loss, went blank, and he blacked out.

* * *

Lucy frowned, wishing Cobra would return to them. She really hoped he wouldn't break up with her over the weapon, but it seemed things were going to head that way unless she figured out something else she could use. She wondered if she could get Saggitarius to teach her how to use a bow. The only problem with that would be ammunition, unless she learned to magic up arrows. She toyed with the idea as they wandered into the plaza, keeping her gaze on Natsu's back. She pulled herself from her thoughts when Natsu stopped, and began to shake with anger. They were lucky no one in the crowd noticed the small amount of smoke coming from his nostrils as he snarled at the man, who was obviously the king, making the announcement about the success of the anima plan and that he was going to make it so that Edolas had magic forever more.

Lucy held Natsu back with Wendy's help, even as she wondered how the man was going to do that. "Please Natsu, we'll rescue them, but you can't blow it now," she whispered. Happy had tears rolling down his face, while Charle looked like she had swallowed a particularly sour lemon. Together, Lucy and Wendy dragged Natsu towards the outskirts of town, following Charle who quietly mentioned she had a plan.

* * *

Cobra woke slowly, still feeling deaf. Fingers ran slowly through his hair, and he tried to shift away from them, opening his eyes. Erza Knightwalker smiled softly down at him, "He didn't like that either. It's almost like he's come back to me."

Cobra struggled to sit up, still scowling, even as he berated himself for relying too much on his magic. The listening magic he had never been without, and it had been a boon on determining the moods of the slavers. Now he felt deaf, and weak, from the loss of both the listening and the dragon slaying magics.

Edo-Erza just smiled at him, sweet smile turning cruel, "So you've come from earthland, to what, to rescue what we've taken? We need this power. Magic is running out."

"So you'll take someone else's life, innocents who have never done you harm," Cobra snarled.

Edo-Erza just shrugged, standing, "I think I'll keep you, to replace my brother that Fairy Tail killed. Of course that means it'll have to wait until the plan is completed. Of course, you could help with the plan."

Cobra stilled, listening, wondering if this would be a way for him to get out. She opened her mouth to explain when there was a knock on the door. "Lady Knightwalker, the king has ordered the execution of the non dragonslayer. He asks that you attend to it immediately."

Erza frowned as Cobra's face paled as he immediately made the connection as to who the man on the other side was talking about. "And the dragonslayers?" she asked, eyes narrowing in.

"Being drained currently for the plan."

"Good," she said, "The exceeds will get what's coming to them soon enough."

She smiled sweetly at Cobra, "Well I have things to attend to brother dearest. Don't kill yourself."

As soon as she left Cobra looked for anything that would get the white goo that blocked his magic off his wrists. He snarled opening the drawers of the desk, looking for a letter opener or a dagger. He kicked a chest, scowling when his boot went straight through it. Carefully extracting his foot, he glanced down at the hole, only to realize a dagger and followed his foot out. The hilt was nothing special, but the blade almost glowed with the poison dripping along the length. He snorted, but didn't question his good luck as he sliced the bindings, even as he sliced himself in the process. He ignored it in favor of bracing himself for the din of noise he was sure to receive as the last of the bonds fell off. The slight weakness that had come from the poison immediately dissipated, and sound and thoughts returned to his ears.

Cobra grinned nastily, and immediately ran out the door, poisoning the guard. He licked the magicked poison blade for a bit of a boost, and ran as fast as he could to where he could hear Knightwalker and Lucy.

He stopped as he saw Edo-Erza, and glanced towards Lucy who was being hung out the window. "Give her to me," he growled out.

"Erik," Lucy whispered, relief, hope and a different, unnamed emotion in her eyes.

Edo-Erza glanced at Lucy, and Erik saw the hatred in her eyes, "No."

"I'll help you," Cobra growled out, even though he had no intention on doing so, "If you return Lucy to me."

Lucy paled as Erza lowered her spear a bit before she shook her head, "No Erik, don't…"

Whatever she was going to saw was interrupted by her scream as Edo-Erza lowered the spear the entire way and she fell.

Cobra ran to the window, not noticing the blue blur that passed him by, but hearing Happy's shout as he caught Lucy. It was all he could do to not collapse in relief, even as he turned, dagger in hand. Edo-Erza studied it, and the cut on his wrist, "You must be feeling a little weak. That dagger was my brother's favorite. It's coated with a very specific poison, and I'm the only one who knows where the antivenin is."

Cobra grinned nastily, and licked the blade much to her shock. "I don't think you understand," Cobra snarled, scales ripping through his shirt and coat, covering his arms, torso, and part of his face in his anger, "Poison is my element."

With that he released a poison dragon's roar, and attacked as Lucy called out for him to be careful, and they'd rescue Natsu and Wendy. Of course what he heard, was her letting him do as he pleased.

* * *

Happy, Charle and Lucy flew down into the depths of the castle. Lucy grimaced at the goo still on her wrists, wishing it would come off so that she could summon someone. She was actually surprised that she still had her keys. She shook her head, wincing at the sound of the screams that were echoing up through the dungeon, and focused on her mission. Happy was quick to swerve, almost banging Lucy into a wall as he dodged the guards. Lucy tried to muffle her shriek, and Charle led them around the corner to hide in a store room.

Lucy frowned as she looked around, looking for anything to cut the bonds on her wrists. "I need to be able to use my magic," she muttered.

Happy bit his lip, trying to keep from crying. "Natsu never gives up. We can rescue him."

"I'm not saying give up," Lucy said hotly, before eyeing the bags of flour.

She winked at Happy as he eyed them too, and he nodded. Charle eyed them warily, and readied herself when Happy picked up the bag and flew as fast as he could around the corner, yelling. Lucy and Charle followed, intent on getting to Natsu and Wendy. Unfortunately for them, there were still guards in the way. Less guards, but still guards. Lucy scowled, holding her bound hands in front of her.

She barely had time to feel the cold when the corridor, and the guards were covered in ice.

Lucy turned, relief and a large smile on her face as she greeted Gray, who looked just as relieved to see her.

"Erza stayed to help Cobra," Gray said, freezing the magic binding goo and shattering.

Lucy sighed in relief as she got back in touch with her magic. Her keys warmed slightly, and Lucy led the way towards Natsu and Wendy, explaining as best she could.


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry I've been away for so long. Been finishing up the semester and visiting family and all those things... It's been a stressful holiday. This chapter is going to be a little rough I think. I was trying really hard to add something and couldn't think of anything. Also this isn't beta'd. So if there's something I can fix let me know. I'm toying with an idea to make it more... unique... So hopefully that's something to look forward to. Until then... Happy Holidays, and see you in the new year. Peace out.

* * *

Cobra sat back, slightly winded as he let Titania take over. For once she was completely focused on the fight with her counterpart. He winced as his scales receded. They hadn't blocked everything, and while his body was absorbing every poison she had thrown at him and from the knife as fuel, it wasn't indestructible. The poison didn't heal him, just gave him an energy boost. Erza turned to him after throwing her Edolas counterpart through a wall, "Go help Lucy."

Cobra nodded, and turned, running. He had gotten a decent amount of revenge for his girl, but Edo-Erza was as tough as the Earthland version, and Cobra knew if he stayed he would end up fighting both. He slowed himself when he realized there weren't a lot of people in the immediate vicinity, and began to stretch out his listening magic. He finally pinpointed his girlfriend, as well as Gray, who was fighting some weirdo over a key, and Natsu, who was rushing to Gray's aid. Lucy was complaining about how heavy a giant octopus was.

Cobra frowned before rounding the final corner to find his girlfriend under a very large octopus, a small girl with brown hair trying to pull her out.

Cobra groaned before rushing in and lifting up on the octopus, allowing the girl to pull Lucy out. Lucy grinned up at Cobra thankfully, and he heard her soul begin to sing as he scooped her up and nuzzled her hair, glad that she was alright.

"Are you her prince?" the girl asked, much to Cobra's amusement.

"He's my dragon," Lucy replied, "Thanks for pulling me out Coco."

The small girl smiled happily, even as she collapsed back on the ground due to her burned feet. Lucy pushed herself back from Cobra, studying him, worried.

"I'm fine Tinkerbell," he muttered, just loud enough for her to hear him.

She nodded, "Let's go."

"We need to get out of here."

Lucy blinked, "But, Natsu, and Gray."

"They're with Erza."

Lucy immediately relaxed, "Right, we need to get more help then."

Coco immediately sprang up, "Follow me!"

Lucy and Cobra gave her a puzzled look, but followed. They moved deeper in the castle for a bit before coming out near the stables. Coco opened on of the doors, cheerfully greeting the animal inside, and then ushering Lucy and Cobra on top of it.

* * *

Lucy blinked as she watched the castle transform from above and winced, "This is just like a Gildarts shift."

Cobra studied it for a moment and nodded, agreeing with the likeness. He scowled as the concentrated magic began to saturate the air and began to concentrate. He finally managed to focus in on Gray, Erza and Natsu and pointed Coco in that direction. Coco nodded, and they all ducked as the Legion crashed through the wall and Lucy yelled at her friends to get on.

"Lucy, did you get turned into this?"

Cobra face palmed and the two of them peered over the side of the beast, Cobra wondering how stupid his friend was before catching Gray's thought that it wasn't outside the realm of possibility.

He sighed, "Suppose not with this group."

Lucy glanced at him curiously and he shook his head as the three clambered aboard. "We've got to stop this," Lucy said, as the rest nodded. Erza kept an eye on her Edolas counterpart, and Cobra glanced at her warily as he pulled Lucy closer to himself by her waist. Lucy glanced at him, surprised, pleased, and wondering if this was really such a time for this.

Cobra glanced at her, ignoring the furious thoughts of Edo-Erza as they rose and began to fly towards the giant lacrima that was Magnolia.

* * *

Lucy frowned as they got closer to the lacrima, wondering if Wendy had managed to convince the Exceeds to leave. From the way everyone was scowling, she sincerely hoped that something had gone right.

"Me too," Cobra grumbled quietly as he pulled her closer to his chest. They were nearing Extalia when they saw the chain begin to move, and Lucy shrieked. Cobra scowled, wishing he could have left Lucy somewhere else. Somewhere with no danger or chance of getting killed. Lucy looked up at him, worried, but glad they were together.

Cobra wished he had her optimism.

"Concentrate all our magic on slowing it down!," Lucy said suddenly, focusing. The rest followed suit as the legion they were riding on began to push back on the lacrima island. Cobra frowned as he saw Extalia getting closer, but refused to bail because Lucy refused to bail, and he would not live without her.

He was nearly shocked out of his concentration when he heard the fast approach of the exceeds and Gajeel. Slowly, the forward motion of the island slowed. Cheered, everyone poured more energy and strength into it, pushing against Extalia, yelling with the effort. Everyone cheered as the magic propelling the lacrima island dissipated into the air, and it stopped moving. This also, however, caused them to start falling because they didn't have good footing. Happy immediately grabbed Natsu, and Charle grabbed Wendy. A violet exceed grabbed him, and he immediately looked to see Lucy grabbed by another, and sighed in relief. Coco was giggling nearby as her legion got underneath her, giving her a soft landing. Moments later they had all landed, cheering.

Cobra scowled as he looked off in the distance where he could hear an army approaching, as well as something else.

He got the attention of Natsu, Wendy, and Gajeel, and alerted the rest. "We're about to get some visitors, and a mechanical dragon."

Natsu grinned, punching one hand, flames dancing around his hands, "We'll take care of the dragon."

Lucy bit her lip, looking between her boyfriend and friends, "Be careful."

Natsu winked at her, and Cobra tucked a stray hair behind her ear. She pulled him down to her level to kiss him on the cheek, and then climbed aboard the legion as they began to herd the exceeds away from the army. The dragon slayers all nodded to each other, and ran to meet the battle armor that they could feel draining the magic of the land.

Cobra scowled as they approached the dragon, the mad king's voice echoing from it.

"I'll boost you," Wendy said before beginning to chant. Cobra felt his own power grow, and sneered, attacking when Gajeel and Natsu attacked. As Natsu went for the head and Gajeel for the back, Cobra focused on seeing if he could get between the joints and into the cockpit. If he could find a way to sneak his poison in without poisoning his partners he could take out the mad king.

Natsu scowled as he got knocked away, noticing Cobra focusing on the chest plate of the metal beast. Gajeel landed next to him, "What's that idiot doing?"

Natsu blinked before brightening, "That must be where Faust is."

"Too bad his type of magic is useless against it."

Cobra turned around for a second, scowling and Natsu brought Wendy and Gajeel in, "Let's give him a hand."

Gajeel nodded, and the three powered up their roars. Cobra barely jumped free before the blast, frowning when he heard King Faust's laughter from inside the machine. Gajeel scowled, and jumped on it, taking out huge chunks of the metal hide one bite at a time. Cobra snickered as the man inside began to shout furiously while Gajeel mentally commented on the taste of his snack.

"If it tastes like shit, don't eat it," Cobra said, landing next to Gajeel and attempting to change the nature of his magic just slightly enough to be corrosive to metals. Taking a deep breath he began to roar into the hole that Gajeel had created while Natsu and Wendy pounded on the rest of the hide with all they had in an attempt to distract Faust. Cobra scowled, listening for signs that what he was attempting was working. Gajeel huffed and pushed him aside. He was about to take another bite when suddenly Cobra grinned, pulling him back as King Faust began to cough and curse. The dragon began to power down, and the chest plate opened. A cloud of purple gas rose into the air as King Faust tumbled out, cursing.

"Too bad he won't kick it from that," Cobra muttered.

"You're telling me," Gajeel said, scowling.

Cobra eyed the Iron Dragon Slayer and jumped down to join Wendy and Natsu. Natsu was holding Wendy back from healing the man. It was then they noticed the yellow glow in the air.

"Someone'e reversed the anima," Cobra said, "All magic is going back to our world."

"My people," Faust groaned, "No! I must restore the anima!"

Natsu scowled, "You aren't using our lives for this. Come on."

Cobra nodded at Natsu's plan, ready to cause some chaos. Natsu gave him a sharp look and Cobra scowled. Huffing, he relented, "Fine, I won't 'hurt' anyone."

"They'll probably do that fine on their own," Cobra grumbled under his breath, knowing the other dragon slayers would hear him.

Wendy looked troubled as Gajeel snickered, but Natsu shrugged, tying up King Faust and heading in the direction of the capitol where people were already panicking and running in the streets.

Cobra snatched some black cloth, handing one to Gajeel and one to Natsu before helping Wendy make a makeshift cape. Wendy gave him a shy grin, "Am I scary enough?"

Cobra blinked not wanting to dash her hopes but knowing she wasn't going to scare anyone, "You'll do fine Little Bit."

Wendy immediately brightened as she turned to see Natsu had acquired some horns somewhere. Cobra snorted as Natsu immediately got into character, rolling his eyes as they all got into place and Natsu began to cackle.

* * *

Lucy watched the soldiers run with a bit of disappointment and a little exasperation. They hadn't exactly been doing well against the soldiers, as most of the Exceeds were lacrima now, but they weren't about to give up either when the magic began to drift towards the large hole in the sky. The soldier's weapons had immediately powered down with the lack of magic and the soldiers had run. Lucy turned, expecting everyone to cheer, to find Edo-Fairy Tail bemoaning the loss of magic and panicking themselves. Edo-Natsu looked like he was close to either wetting himself or curling up into a ball and crying while rocking back and forth. Maybe a bit of both.

Lucy turned to her shorter haired Edolas counterpart, who was more concerned with getting Fairy Tail back into the right frame of mind rather than the loss of magic, and smiled. She was glad she at least had her head on straight.

Lucy turned to Gray, and both began to run towards the capitol with less than a moment's communication between them. She prayed that Erza wasn't too badly hurt fighting herself before chuckling slightly at the thought. She had a feeling everything would be alright. She had barely made it inside the city limits when Cobra, who had been terrorizing a group of townspeople landed in front of her and grabbed her, throwing her up on his shoulder. She yelped, a little embarrassed, as Erik jumped on top of a building. It was then she noticed the scales on his arms and around his face.

"What the hell, Erik?"

"The great Demon King resurrected me to terrorize the people while he stole everyone's magic."

Lucy blinked, attempting to push herself into a somewhat upright position to look at him as he sneered down at the townspeople and Fairy Tail.

"And Natsu is the Demon King?" she asked, voice flat.

Cobra's grin became almost feral, "He's pretty good at it too."

Lucy looked around for her wayward friend, studying him before acknowledging the point. "Could you put me down?"

"Nope!" Cobra said cheerfully, "You're my prisoner now."

He dodged an ice blast from Gray, who was shouting furiously at them.

"Why are you getting lighter?" Cobra suddenly asked.

It was then Lucy noticed she was glowing, "Someone reversed the anima machine."

"Yeah the prince, but why…"

"I think I'm heading back to Earthland."

Cobra grunted, trying to keep ahold of her a moment longer before letting go reluctantly.

Lucy forced her best smile for him, "I'll see you soon."

Cobra nodded, and Lucy turned to see Gray next to her, frowning, "He's not glowing yet?"

"I think the dragon slayers are all going to take longer," she said, noticing that none of them were being pulled into the anima yet before sharing a worried glance with Gray, "Granted they weren't pulled into the anima in the first place."

Gray frowned, before grinning down at the other Fairy Tail and beginning their goodbyes.

* * *

Cobra glanced over to where Natsu was giving Mystogan a Fairy Tail parting, and moved to stand near Gajeel and Wendy. The edges of their own magic were beginning to get pulled into the anima, and he was ready to join his girlfriend at home. It was when Mystogan and Natsu met for a dual punch and Natsu began screaming that they began to act as well.

"I feel stupid," Cobra coughed out lowly, causing Wendy to giggle and Gajeel to chuckle eve as they began to rise into the air with the leftover Exceeds.

Natsu turned and gave one last cheerful wave to everyone on the ground before the world faded to black, and they found themselves landing on the ground in the forest near Magnolia.

Cobra found Lucy holding the violet Exceed, shivering. Taking his makeshift cloak, he wrapped it around her, almost snickering at her surprise before his breath caught as she smiled up at him. The small purple Exceed popped her head out as well, grinning up at him slyly.

Cobra frowned. "Erik this is Nightshade."

"Pleased ta meetcha," the small cat chirped, "Good to see you in one piece."

Cobra nodded at the cat, eyeing it suspiciously.

"I'm more of a snake person."

The cat's jaw dropped, before looking at Lucy who was giggling. The cat shrugged, "Then I'll stay with Lucy-hime. I'll be your flying partner when you go on jobs!"

Cobra snorted and Lucy looked up at him, mirth in her eyes, "Come on Erik. It won't be that bad. She's a sweetheart."

Cobra grunted, wondering if the little Exceed was going to be annoying as Happy and Charle and interrupt his time with his girlfriend on a regular basis. So far the Exceed wasn't giving signs of that but he noticed that Happy and Charle were kind of attention whores for their particular slayer. Well, Charle only wanted Wendy's attention. Happy wanted everyone's attention.

"Alright," he finally relented as Lucy was already making plans to have the purple Exceed stay with her. Nightshade purred and Lucy nuzzled her head happily. A moment later a black Exceed caught their attention, dragging a girl with short, white hair and large blue eyes into the clearing. Lucy blinked, startled when she tackled Natsu, tears in her eyes as Natsu yelped. Lucy glanced up at Cobra, curious to know if her soul resonated with Natsu's. Cobra was frowning, and slowly shook his head.

"They could be happy," Cobra muttered into her ear, "But you're a closer match to him than she is. I don't think it'll work so long as he knows you. She seems to know this too."

Lucy frowned, trying to figure out what he meant, and then sighed, letting it go. Cobra was glad she did. He didn't want to try and explain any more than he had to about his soul listening ability.

* * *

It was a week later, and everyone had finally calmed down, nearly everyone in the guild getting used to the presence of Lissana once more in the guild. Lucy was sitting with Nightshade next to her, soul humming happily as she watched them ask the same questions about Edolas, just to hear Lissana speak again. Lissana never seemed to tire of telling the same stories again and again.

Lucy giggled before looking at her boyfriend, who was having a glowering contest with Gajeel from across the room.

She giggled, grinning slightly when he didn't even flinch, "Lacrima or no, you're still a real dragon slayer."

Cobra's lips twitched slightly upward, but he didn't break his staring contest. Nightshade looked up from the cup of milk that Kinana had given her, "Men are weird."

Lucy grinned down at the Exceed, "People in general are kinda weird, I think."

"Good thing I'm an Exceed," Nightshade said snobbily.

Lucy tried her hardest to get annoyed, but found she couldn't. She was content with how things were. Granted if someone had told her a year ago she'd be dating an ex-convict she would have sent them to the looney bin. Cobra being her soul mate, however, felt… right. And while she knew, she still wasn't sure how she knew, that she could be blissfully happy with Natsu, with Cobra she felt, needed. Like she could help him in ways no one else could. It gave her a strange sense of power.

She scooted a little closer, gently laying her head on his shoulder. She waited for the sudden tense, and then waited for him to relax again before leaning a bit more heavily on him. She had been through this routine before, several times before, since he asked her to be official. At first she had been offended and a little sad, but she was, maybe not beginning to understand, but getting used to it as a quirk. Cobra looked down at her, finally breaking off his staring contest, and Lucy smiled happily up at him. Cobra shifted, putting his arm around her waist, a barely there smile on his face. He didn't even wince when Kinana brought out a lacrima camera and snapped a picture of them. Lucy sighed contentedly, her eyes being drawn to the large commotion at the board. She was suddenly glad that she didn't need rent for a little bit, as the clamor for jobs at the request board was reaching a frenzy.

Mira set a milkshake down in front of Lucy, noting what drew her attention, "It always gets like this around this time of year."

Lucy took a sip, giving Mira a confused look, even as Natsu jumped over with a grin, "Mira, I'm taking this one!"

Mira signed the document and watched Natsu go with a smile.

"S Class exams," Cobra muttered in her ear and Lucy made a face. She then pulled out a letter from Sorano.

"Sorano's getting adopted by a small all female guild, the new one, Mermaid Heel," she said happily, "And Sawyer might be going to Quatro Cerberus."

Cobra snickered, "I hope those two guilds are prepared."

Lucy pinched his side good-naturedly as she held the letter out for him to peruse. Cobra leaned closer to get a better view, and wished the council wasn't full of idiots so they could write each other without them thinking they were plotting world domination.

A second later he looked up, glaring at the master before sighing and standing. Lucy gave him a slightly confused look, watching as he headed towards the master sulkily. He came back scowling twenty minutes later, and shook his head when Lucy opened her mouth. "Not allowed to say," he grumbled, sitting down a little ways away from her. Lucy frowned, but didn't scoot closer, sensing he needed some space. She calmed herself, remembering that he wasn't like everyone else.

Cobra sighed, "Sorry Bright Eyes."

Just with that, her eyes softened in understanding and pleasure.

Makarov stood, Gildarts next to him, and commanded everyone's attention, "I'd like to announce the candidates for this year's S Class Exams!"

Lucy cheered with everyone else as names were announced. When Mest's name was announced, she frowned, as did Cobra, before both their eyes cleared, and they didn't think a thing about it more. Lucy stood and stretched, a smile on her face.

"Don't stay too late. I think I'm going to go home."

"Want me to walk you?" he asked, despite hearing her thoughts to the contrary.

Lucy shook her head, pleased that he had asked, "I'll yell if I need help."

Cobra smirked, "Careful walking home Bright Eyes."

Lucy nodded, pulling on her coat and summoning Plue, who chirruped at the Poison Dragon Slayer before following Lucy out. Cobra nodded to the small dog, and then smiled as Kinana brought him a poison laced beer, an ale set on fire for Natsu, who had plopped down, a big grin on his face.

"Luce knows I'm taking Happy as my partner?" Natsu asked, a little anxiously.

Cobra snorted into his drink, watching as Natsu slurped the fire off his drink before sipping it, "She understands."

Natsu relaxed, a soft smile on his face, gaze sharpening when Lissana walked over, dragging Juvia, "I'm going to be partners with Juvia!"

Juvia looked like she wanted to be anywhere else even as Natsu congratulated her on being considered for S Class. Lissana beamed at him as he told Juvia she had made a good choice in partner. Gray walked over with Loke a moment later, and Cobra looked sharply at the lion spirit, who glared back.

"I'm here under my own power," Loke said acidly, "And will be for the trials. Lucy knows."

Cobra relaxed slightly, and toned his magic down as they began to talk and argue loudly around him. He was a little surprised they had come over, regardless of the fact that Natsu was sitting with him.

"It's taking them longer than they took to Juvia," Juvia said next to him, "But Juvia believes they're accepting you."

Cobra looked around him, and while Loke and Gray still shot daggers at him with their eyes, everyone else, including Erza, who had walked over was content to sit there with him. An hour later he was walking out with Natsu and Erza, and he glanced suspiciously at her.

"You aren't hostile anymore," he blurted out after a few minutes of silent walking.

Natsu stiffened, and Erza gave a scary grin. "Lucy gave me permission that if you ever hurt her, I can tear you apart," she said cheerfully, causing both men to freeze, a shiver running down their spines.

Cobra gaped, and then frowned, "Fair enough."

Natsu gaped at Cobra's seeming easy acceptance, and Cobra glanced at him, "I'd deserve it, if I hurt her. You'd be next in line and you know it."

"There wouldn't be anything left," Natsu grumbled as they let Erza get ahead of them. Cobra sighed, releasing the hold on his magic and listening to the souls around them, relaxing as they got further away from town, and the only noises to be heard were the sounds of nightlife in the surrounding woods.

* * *

Cobra stared at his girlfriend as she happily hugged their Exceed, nuzzling its head. Cana stood in front of the master, for once not completely trashed, as had been her MO for most of the month.

Lucy greeted him with a determine smile. "Please tell me you didn't," he said, still in shock.

Lucy's eyes narrowed in challenge, "I'm Cana's partner for the exam."

Cobra felt his rage build, before clamping down on it. Lucy was uncannily good at picking out his moods, and he didn't want to have a row in the guild, especially since Titania was cheerfully watching them for any signs of discontent.

"I'm sorry I didn't consult you," she said softly, taking the active reigning in of his anger as a kind of peace offering, "But this is really important."

Cobra listened as her soul sang out the story she had gotten last night, and how much is resonated with her. Cobra's face softened and he sighed, "Fine. Just means now I'm going too."

Lucy blinked in surprise, and Cobra grumbled, "Master was going to make you my temporary parole partner while Natsu was taking the exam. But now everyone that has a _chance_ at taking me down is going."

Lucy began to giggle, then chuckle, and then laugh whole heartedly. Cobra just smirked at her, a fang peeking out from under his lips. "So I have a chance," she said, mirth in her voice.

"You've already taken me down," he said softly, eyes softening, glad no one was nearby to listen in.

Lucy blushed, thoughts swept away by the confession, blinking dazedly as Cana cheerfully grabbed her arm, "Mind if I borrow your girlfriend, stud?"

Cobra raised an eyebrow, "As long as I get her back after training."

Cana hugged Lucy around the middle, one of Cana's arms rising to just below Lucy's breasts, "No promises."

Cobra snorted, and let Lucy get dragged away as he went to meet with the master.

"You'll stay with me," Makarov said as Cobra got near, "No interfering in the exam."

"I hear ya," Cobra said irritably.

Makarov looked at him out of the corner of his eye, "And no poisoning anyone if Lucy gets hurt at all. This is an exam. There's going to be fighting. Everyone that's going understands the limits they can go to."

"Even Natsu and Gray?" Cobra jibed, causing Makarov to chuckle.

"I knew you could joke," the old man said, his gaze scanning the guild.

Cobra snorted, "Since when did I become one of your brats?"

"Since you saved our lovely Celestial Mage," Makarov said cheerfully.

Cobra snorted and stood, leaving, not wanting the old man to pick up on his embarrassment, and oddly enough, pleasure. He ignored it as the old man eyed him knowingly, and scowled at his guildmates as they entered the guildhall. He gazed longingly at the request board, knowing that until he was off parole, he wouldn't be able to take jobs alone. He glanced around and nearly groaned before standing and leaving, not wanting to be in the guildhall that was already getting crowded.


End file.
